For the first time in the 2017 baseball season, the Dodgers woke up on Wednesday morning in first place in the National League West. They did so by winning their sixth consecutive game, including a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs and taking the first two of four from the (seemingly) perennial NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals. But like most things in life, the Dodgers couldn’t have (finally) caught and passed a surprisingly very good Colorado Rockies team and an even more surprisingly good – or at least lucky – Arizona Diamondbacks team without some help from teams playing these two NL West rivals while the Dodgers were prevailing over two of baseball’s best teams.

Of all the teams in baseball, it’s hard to believe that it would be an American League team – and a rather bad one at that – that would help to propel the Dodgers to the top of their division at the one-third mark (32.7 percent to be precise) of the season, yet this is exactly what happened. It was the AL West fourth place Seattle Mariners with their (now) 24-29 record taking two in a row from the NL West-leading Rockies with their (now) 33-21 record to help the (now) 33-20 Dodgers reach the top of their division, albeit by a precarious 0.5 games.

Sparking the Mariners offense to their sudden success is none other that Kyle Seager, the older brother of Dodgers shortstop and 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager. The elder Seager brother is 11-for-31 (.355) on the Mariners current nine-game road trip – with one game against the Rockies remaining – with a home run and six RBIs. Kyle is also 6-for-15 (.400) during his team’s current three-game winning streak.

“Kyle’s been awesome,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters after Tuesday night’s dominating 10-4 win over the powerful Rockies. “He really swung the bat with authority. He probably could have had four or five home runs on this road trip. Today, he finally got one over the fence. He’s starting to heat up, and when he gets hot, usually they come in bunches.”

Although the Dodgers have been very good at the plate over the past few weeks, it took this second-inning two run blast by Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager against the Colorado Rockies to help the Dodgers move into sole possession of first place in the NL West. Now it’s up to Kyle’s brother Corey and the rest of the Dodgers to remain there. (Photo credit – Justin Edmonds)

Like his younger brother Corey, Kyle was somewhat humble about his current hot streak.

“It gets contagious. Look at [Jean] Segura. He gets the ball rolling and we can all feed off of that. He just needs to get four hits every game and we’ll be pretty good,” Seager kidded.

While there is no arguing that the Dodgers have played exceptionally well over the past week and a half, it would be negligent not to mention that the Dodgers bullpen has been a huge reason for the Dodgers success. In fact, prior to an eighth-inning Yadier Molina solo home run off of oft-criticized Dodgers reliever Chris Hatcher, the Dodgers bullpen had gone 24.2 innings without allowing a run. Unfortunately for Hatcher, a big part of that oft-criticized thing has to do with the fact that he has now allowed five home runs this season, tops among all Dodger relievers. Fortunately, a very strong Dodgers offense – led by rookie sensation Cody Bellinger and a suddenly red hot Chase Utley – has been able to overcome early deficits and pile on runs almost at will.

But while the Dodgers are enjoying breakfast this morning in first place for the first time since the final game of the 2016 regular season, the cold hard truth – and time-tested fact – is that any team can beat any other team on any given day. In other words, the Dodgers need to continue to step on the throats of their opponents with unrelenting aggression and begin distancing themselves from their competition if they are to have any hopes of winning their fifth consecutive National League West title.