Seven – it’s as simple as that.

With only seven regular season games remaining for the Dodgers, they absolutely positively must win every one of them to have any chance at winning the second and final NL Wild Card spot. This is not a 5 out of 7 or 6 out of 7 thing, this is a 7 out of 7 thing. And even if they do manage to pull off this miracle, something that they have not done even once this season (winning seven straight, that is), they still might not make it.

Matt Kemp hit his 20th home run of the season in Wednesday’s 8-2 rout of the Padres.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Not only must the Dodgers win out the season, they need the Cardinals to lose at least 4 of their 6 remaining games which, in all honesty, is asking a great deal. The only comfort that Dodger fans might find in this tall order (if you can call it comfort) is that the Cardinals face the NL East leading Nationals for three of their six remaining games and the NL Central Division winning Reds for the other three games – that’s the good news. The bad news is that all six games will be played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and you can bet your very last dollar that the Nationals and Reds will most likely be resting at least some of their best players for the upcoming playoffs.

But wait… there’s more!

In addition to the Dodgers needing to win every one of their seven remaining games, they also need the smoking hot Milwaukee Brewers to lose at least one of their own remaining seven games, as the Dodgers and Brewers currently have identical 80-75 records, and to be painfully honest, this is far more likely to happen than the Dodgers winning 7 of 7 – especially when you consider that the Dodgers final three games will be against the NL West winning Giants (grrrr!) – and don’t think for one second that the Giants give a damn that those final three games will be played at Dodger Stadium.

If there is one glimmer of hope it is that the Dodgers offense seemed to wake up during Wednesday’s matinee game at Petco Park when they pounded the suddenly surging Padres 8-2. The concern that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly undoubtedly has about this dominating win is that he used four non-regulars to accomplish it, one of whom (Juan Rivera) hit a home run and another of whom (Nick Punto) scored four runs, something that no other Dodger has done even once this season. Yet another non-regular (Matt Treanor) scored a run in the game in spite of going 0 for 4 on the day. In fact, the only non-regular left on the outside looking in was utility infielder/outfielder Elian Herrera who went 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.

Utility infielder Nick Punto became the first Dodger this season to score four runs in a game.
(Photo credit – Denis Poroy)

Will Mattingly have these same four non-regulars in his line-up from here on out? Rivera possibly (as a replacement for injured left fielder Shane Victorino) but most likely none of the others. (Note: Rivera replaced Andre Ethier in right field on Wednesday and you know darn well that Mattingly undoubtedly will not have Andre miss another game this season – left-handed match-ups not withstanding).

Make no mistake about it, the Dodgers know exactly how dire their situation is.

“Right now we have to win out, win every game to at least have a chance to get into the playoffs,” said Matt Kemp, who had a Matt Kemp-like day on Wednesday going 4 for 5 with a home run (his 20th) and 4 RBIs.

The bottom line here is that although faint, the Dodgers still have a pulse; but they must, absolutely must win all seven remaining games and must, absolutely must treat every remaining game as if it were the last game of the season – or it will be.