SAN DIEGO — The San Francisco Giants got a little bit of cushion in their quest for the NL West division title as they won on Wednesday night and the Dodgers lost.
The Giants were able to pick up a game on the Dodgers to take a two-game lead in the NL West after the Giants defeated the Padres and the Dodgers lost to the Rockies in Colorado.
The Giants are pushing for their first division title since 2012. The Dodgers have won the division eight straight seasons.
With their 8-6 win over San Diego, the Giants, whose 99-53 record is the best in the majors, pulled within one win of reaching 100 wins for the eighth time in franchise history.
Giants deadline-addition Kris Bryant hit a bases-clearing double in their win and Buster Posey had four hits and scored three times.
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The significance of winning the division obviously has major implications in baseball versus getting in via the Wild Card.
Winning the NL West will give either team the No. 1 seed in the National League playoffs and the team that comes in second, despite having the second best record in baseball, will have to play in the one-game Wild Card game to advance (and then play the NL West winner in the NLDS).
As it stands now, the St. Louis Cardinals have a 4.5 game lead in the second NL Wild Card slot thanks to their 11-game win streak that they're still riding. Atlanta holds a three game lead over Philadelphia for the NL East crown and the Brewers comfortably lead the NL Central.
In the American League, the Yankees jumped back into the second Wild Card spot after the Blue Jays lost to Tampa Bay on Wednesday. The Red Sox hold the first slot by two games ahead of the Yankees and 2.5 games ahead of the Blue Jays, who are now half a game out of the second spot.
With most team having about 10 games to go in the season, things are about to start turning up in these Wild Card races.