Dodgers beat A’s to clinch 8th straight NL West title

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their eighth straight National League West title with a 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday and it was unlike any of the first seven.

There was no dogpile on the field or champagne-soaked celebration, just subdued high-fives and hugs as they put on T-shirts commemorating the accomplishment, piped-in crowd noise roared, and “I Love L.A.” serenaded the cutouts in attendance at Dodger Stadium.

They reached the goal in their 55th game with five games to spare in this sprint season with help from the Los Angeles Angels, who beat the San Diego Padres about an hour earlier. The results also gave them the No. 1 seed for the expanded 16-team postseason. They’ll play Game 1 of the wild-card round next Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. The opponent is a club to be determined.

The Dodgers crushed four home runs and got five solid innings from Dustin May on Tuesday to beat the best team they’ve played this season not named the Padres. May allowed two runs on

three hits across five innings. He issued a careerhigh three walks and struck out five. The 23year-old right-hander is an important piece to their World Series puzzle with potential to dominate.

May throws 99 mph. He went viral last month for making San Diego Padres star Manny Machado, an NL MVP contender, look foolish swinging at an eyepopping two-seam fastball. His numbers, however, doesn’t exactly match the profile. Pitchers with a repertoire that explosive usually strike out hitters at a high percentage. May doesn’t.

He entered Wednesday with an 18% strikeout rate, which ranked 81st out of 97 pitchers that have logged at least 40 innings this season. May instead relies on inducing groundballs; he began Tuesday with the seventh-highest groundball rate in the majors. Groundballs are the batted balls most likely to become outs. The Dodgers, in turn, have been the best in the league at converting balls put in play into outs.