The Dodgers claim MLB's best record as Shohei Ohtani continues his quest for the Triple Crown

The Dodgers have often noted this year that, despite all their injuries and periods of inconsistent play, they didn't feel like the team with the best record in baseball.

Saturday was not one of those days.

Before they even took the field, the Dodgers had the best record of the season in the majors and secured the award – and home field advantage in the playoffs – for the fourth time since 2017 thanks to a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Then, in the penultimate game of the regular season, the Dodgers achieved that status with a 13-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.

“Tonight was a clinic,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You know this is the last test before it matters. So they’re trying to lock themselves in and that’s good.”

In fact, Saturday marked the first time this year that the Dodgers really had nothing to offer in the standings. Nevertheless, they continued to keep their foot on the accelerator.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched five solid innings and allowed just two runs, which Roberts called “great preparation” ahead of the playoffs.

Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández hit three-run home runs, marking an 18-hit outburst in which Kiké, Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux all had three hits.

Shohei Ohtani also continued his late pursuit of a potential (albeit far-fetched) National League triple title, going 2-for-5 with his 58th stolen base of the season and ending the day four batting average points behind Luis Arraez finished for the batting title.

“It's really satisfying,” Roberts said of his club's MLB-best record, now 97-64. “Once we finish tomorrow, we will regroup later in the week. And I expect our guys to have the same focus, even more so than in the last few weeks.”

The most important item on Saturday's to-do list was Yamamoto's start, his longest since returning from a shoulder injury earlier this month.

Yamamoto's first three starts have been increasingly less impressive after he went two four-inning efforts earlier this month with a three-inning, four-run clunker against the Rockies in Los Angeles last week.

After that final performance, Yamamoto felt “under the weather,” according to Roberts. Yamamoto described it as “just a normal cold.”

Whatever the case, there was little sign of trouble in the Japanese right-hander's performance, with four hits and six strikeouts, the first of his career at hitter-friendly and high-altitude Coors Field.

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After a couple of bloop singles and a sacrifice fly, he gave up a run in the first. Ezequiel Tovar took it deep into the third with a first-pitch cutter that Yamamoto left in the zone. Other than that, the $325 million offseason signing had little stress, finishing his debut MLB season with a 7-2 record, 3.00 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 90 innings over 18 starts.

“It wasn’t a perfect season for me because of my injury because I wasn’t in the team,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “However, I learned a lot, experienced great things and my teammates helped pile up the wins that got us into October. I really appreciate it and will be happy to do my best to contribute.”

While the Dodgers have not yet finalized their pitching rotation for the National League Division Series, it seems likely that Yamamoto will start in Game 2 of the best-of-five set a week starting Sunday.

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Before Saturday's game, Roberts said he currently expects Jack Flaherty to start Game 1 next Saturday. Given the team's preference to start Yamamoto with at least five days' rest – a routine he has followed all year after pitching about once a week in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league – that would mean the 25- Yearlings would only pitch once in the NLDS season and would not be available for a possible Game 5.

The Dodgers are obviously hoping that Flaherty, Yamamoto and the rest of the pitching staff perform well enough to keep the series that long.

But before the Dodgers turn their full attention to October, there's one final point of interest heading into Sunday's regular-season finale.

Technically, Ohtani still has a shot at the National League's first triple crown since 1937. However, it will require a monumental effort in Game 162.

While Ohtani finished Saturday with a .310 batting average – having increased the mark by a whopping 24 points while going 26 for 38 in his last nine games – Arraez did not play in the San Diego Padres' win over the Arizona Diamondbacks and was given a day after securing home advantage in next week's wildcard round.

Roberts didn't mock the decision before the game, but noted that he would be “shocked” if Arraez didn't play on Sunday.

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“Hopefully he plays tomorrow and goes 0-fer and Shohei has another 4-hit game,” Roberts said.

Should Arraez actually go 0-for-4 on Sunday, his final batting average would be .312 (or, more accurately, .3119). To top it all, Ohtani would have to go three for four or better.

Not impossible. But, as Roberts noted, also “very unlikely.”

“I would expect Arraez to play tomorrow,” Roberts reiterated. “And we’ll see if Shohei can miss another big day.”

Kiermaier injures his finger

Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was already looking like the odd man out of the Dodgers' postseason roster on the position player side. When he tried to turn a single into a double in the fourth inning, he dislocated his left ring finger while making the substitution.

According to Roberts, Kiermaier left the game, after which his finger was put back in the correct position by the coaching staff.

“Now it just hurts,” Roberts said. “I guess he falls into that everyday category.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.