Here’s the deal. Between Friday, June 6 and Thursday, June 19, the NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers will play 16 games, with a scheduled off day on Thursday, June 12. Of those 16 games, seven will be against the NL West second-place San Diego Padres – the first three at Petco Park June 9-11, and the other four at Dodger Stadium June 16-19.

Following their exciting come-from-behind 6-5 win over the NL East first-place New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon, the NL West looks like this:

For good measure, the Dodgers also have three games against the NL West third-place San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium June 13-15.

Oh sure, one can hop on the “There’s still a lot of baseball yet to be played” bandwagon, but the cold, hard truth is that any loss against a division rival at any time during the regular season can never be made up and could be the difference in playing in the postseason or watching it on TV. It doesn’t get any colder or harder than that.

As for that exciting come-from-behind win on Thursday, it was a huge two-out single to left by struggling Dodgers left fielder Michael Conforto in the bottom of the eighth to drive in Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages for the game-winner.

“I mean, it means everything, that’s why we play the game, you know. That’s the guy I want to be,” Conforto told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson immediately after his game-winning hit, with Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” playing in the background.

As Dodgers fans painfully know, the 32-year-old Seattle, WA native entered Thursday’s contest slashing a dismal .165/.313/.271/.583, with three home runs and only nine RBIs in his previous 208 plate appearances (170 at-bats).

“You know, get the game-winning hit, guys certainly cheering for him, feeling the love and the support,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Conforto postgame. “He’s been going through it, and so I think that it’s a huge exhale for him hopefully,” added the Dodgers skipper.

“I Love LA! … We Love It!”

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *