The Dodgers' Losing Streak Is Over. The Question It Raised Isn't.

With two outs in the 10th inning Saturday, Hunter Feduccia drew a walk, the automatic extra-innings runner moved to third on a wild pitch, and Shohei Ohtani grounded a ball to the right side that Arizona first baseman Tim Tawa could not turn into an out. RBI infield single, 2-1 Dodgers, seven-game losing streak over. Los Angeles improves to 70-47 and stays on top of the NL West; Arizona falls to 61-55, in second, 8.5 games back.

The streak wasn't really about scoring

The skid ran through a bullpen problem more than a lineup one. The Dodgers lost the night before to the same Diamondbacks team, 4-3, and Saturday nearly went the same way: closer Edwin Diaz blew a 1-0 ninth-inning lead, his second blown save in as many appearances, after Arizona strung together back-to-back triples to tie it. The walk-off saved the day, but it did not fix what actually put Los Angeles in a seven-game hole to begin with.

Why 8.5 games isn't as safe as it looks

Arizona has shown all season it can win low-scoring, close games, exactly the kind of game the Dodgers nearly lost twice in this series alone. A division lead built on a roster that can occasionally blow ninth-inning leads to a team built to grind out one-run wins is a lead that can move faster than the standings currently suggest, especially with seven weeks of baseball left.

That gap between the raw standings and who actually wins the close ones is exactly the kind of edge that shows up first in how prediction markets price a division, days or weeks before it shows up in the loss column.

RadarPulse's Fantasy desk tracks bullpen usage and late-game leverage spots like this one all season. See the Fantasy terminal →