Dodgers might've lost final Padres series, but they secured the only thing that matters

The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up the season series with one of their fiercest division rivals in San Diego over the weekend, but the race to the top of the National League West is far from over.

The Dodgers capped off their final regular-season series against the Padres with a decisive 8-2 victory on Sunday, but it was their only win of the three-game set. San Diego won Friday and Saturday's games to take the series, scoring a combined seven runs against Los Angeles' two.

However, the Dodgers didn't need to win their final series against the Padres in order to secure the season series win. They are 9-4 against San Diego this season, giving them the tiebreaker to move them into the top spot in the NL West – for now.

Although they won't face one another again this season, the Dodgers and Padres will still be locked in an intense battle for the division title. There are still 31 games left to play in the regular season, and the Padres only need to finish with one more win than the Dodgers to win their first such title since 2006.

Dodgers might've lost final Padres series, but the race to the finish line is underway

The Dodgers are only guaranteed an NL West title, then, if they finish with the exact same record as the Padres. In other words, they still have everything to play for.

At the beginning of July, the Padres were as many as nine games behind the Dodgers. A month and a half later, they've pulled even at the top, marking the latest into a season that San Diego has held at least a share of first place since 2010. Their second-half surge, however, has coincided with the Dodgers playing some of their worst baseball of the year – at the worst possible time.

The Dodgers are a sub-.500 team (16-18) since the All-Star break. Meanwhile, the Padres are nine games over .500 (22-13) in that same span. Neither team has a particularly daunting schedule over the final five weeks of the season, making it all the more important for the Dodgers to rack up as many wins as they can down the stretch and avoid getting passed by the Padres.

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