Game 163 in baseball is a rare thing to see, let alone seeing two in one season, but yet it happened anyway. Two division titles still needed to be claimed and the 162-game season just wasn’t enough.

The Chicago Cubs were tasked with taking on the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field while the Los Angeles Dodgers were sent to battle it out with the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium to each win their perspective division title. The loser of each game would be tasked with playing a Wild Card game the very next day.

The Brewers and Cubs started their game at 10 am PST, allowing Dodgers fans to catch part of the game while they waited inside the stadium for their own game to start.

The game was one for die-hard fans to follow as Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich was searching for the first National League (NL) Triple Crown since 1937 and the in the MLB since Miguel Cabrera’s in 2012. Yelich fell two home runs and an RBI shy of the crown but managed to claim the NL batting title with a .326 batting average to end the regular season.

The Brewers ended up taking the game over the Cubs, scoring two in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie, sending them to the NL Division Series (NLDS) against the Wild Card winner. The Cubs loss sent them to the Wild Card spot where they would face the loser of the Dodgers/Rockies game.

The game started nine up and nine down before Manny Machado knocked a base hit to center in the bottom of the second. He advanced to second on a foul out by Yasmani Grandal and on to third on a reviewed and confirmed ground out from Cody Bellinger but was unable to score.

Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler hit and walked a batter in the third and walked another in the fourth to break up his perfect game, but overall, he was lights out.

In addition to his brilliant pitching performance in Game-163, Buehler also hit an RBI single.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In the fourth, the Dodgers got on the board and never looked back.

Max Muncy struck out but reached on a passed ball by Rockies catcher Tony Wolters. Bellinger came up with two outs and launched a two-run shot to right center field to put the Dodgers up 2-0.

Yasiel Puig then doubled to center before Kiké Hernandez was intentionally walked to get to Buehler who struck out.

Joc Pederson lead off the fifth with a double and scored via a home run to left by Muncy.

The Rockies got their first hit of the ballgame in the top of the sixth as Charlie Blackmon singled to right. Back-to-back outs eliminated the threat.

Hernández reached again on a double in the sixth and scored on a single to right by Buehler, his first career RBI.

Buehler then recorded two outs in the top of the seventh before issuing a walk to Carlos Gonzalez. He was removed to a standing ovation in favor of Pedro Baez.

His final line was one hit over 6.2 innings of work with three walks and three strikeouts.

Baez recorded an out in the eighth before being replaced by Scott Alexander.

The Dodgers tried to tack on to their lead in the seventh with back to back singles to right by Justin Turner and Muncy, before Machado grounded into a double play, advancing Turner to third. A Grandal strikeout ended the inning.

Alexander gave up a base hit to Blackmon and was promptly taken out. Kenta Maeda came in next and recorded the final two outs of the inning.

For just the second time in the game, the Dodgers went quietly in the bottom of the eighth.

Kenley Jansen came in to close out the game in the ninth.  He gave up back to back home runs to break up the shutout, but quickly shut down the bottom of the Rockies lineup, striking out the final two batters to officially give the Dodgers the win and the NL West title.

It took 163 games, but the Dodgers are the National League West champions for a record-setting sixth consecutive season. (Photo credit – Lauren Jennings)

The win gave the Dodgers their sixth straight NL West title, the most in franchise history.

It also gave them two days off and home field advantage as they take on the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.

Jansen strikes out longtime Dodgers nemesis Gerardo Parra for the final out of Game-163.
(Click on image to view video)

Game one will be on Thursday, October 4, with right-hander Mike Foltynewicz scheduled to take the mound for the Braves and left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu for the Dodgers as they defend their 2017 NL title.