It is generally a bit of an overstatement to proclaim any one series during a 162-game season as the single most important series of the season. But beginning on Thursday evening, the NL West third place Dodgers (by 1.0 GB) will indeed embark on the single most important series of the season when they host the NL West first place Arizona Diamondbacks for a four-game series at the Dodger Stadium.

How so, you ask?

In the simplest of terms, the Dodgers could very well be leading the division by as many as three games, or could find themselves still in third place by as many as five games back (or anywhere in between) come Sunday evening.

For the Dodgers, who have won five in a row heading into Thursday’s series opener against Arizona, there couldn’t be a better scenario. Never before has the phrase “controlling your own destiny” carried more meaning. But for Dodger fans, this is about as nerve-wracking and stressful as it can get. However, for us old school baseball purists, this is what we live for. May the best team win.

The big wrinkle in this ‘single most important series of the season’ thing is that the Dodgers are not entirely in control of their own destiny. Ironically, the worst team in the National League West will have a say in the matter; perhaps even more so than the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and the current second place Colorado Rockies themselves.

While the Dodgers and Dbacks are duking it out at Chavez Ravine, the Rockies will (presumably) be manhandling the NL West last place Friars a mere 127 miles to the south at Petco Park. That being said and as every baseball fan on the planet knows, ‘any major league team can beat any other major league team on any given day’. As such, and with a little help from the (current) 52-83 Padres, the Dodgers could come out of this weekend in first place, with only 25 regular season games left to be played.

Solo home runs by Cody Bellinger, Manny Machado, and Yasmani Grandal gave the Dodgers a 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, to extend their winning streak to five games. (Image courtesy of MLB.com)

But wait, there’s more!

Of those 25 remaining games, three will be against those same Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field (September 24-26), and six more against the Colorado Rockies, three at Coors Field (September 7-9) and three at Dodger Stadium (September 17-19).

In other words, the Dodgers still have three more ‘single most important series’ of the season’ before all is said and done.

As Tommy Lasorda used to say during a popular MLB ad campaign several years ago, and as is the title of a biography written about the popular (and eccentric) Hall of Fame manager by LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke: “I LIVE for this!”

Strap in and hang on … things are about to get real for the Dodgers.

Play Ball!