Dave Roberts' speech to Dodgers after NL West clinch better hold weight

On Thursday night, having already taken the Padres' control of their own postseason destiny out of their hands, the Dodgers were looking not only for their first series win against San Diego this season, but to clinch the NL West and finally solidify their bye to the NLDS. The Padres have become a persistent thorn in the Dodgers' sides, and after San Diego clinched their own postseason berth with a victory in the opener, LA had some payback to dole out.

The second game was won with some clutch hitting from Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani, with the Dodgers finally giving fans some hope that they'd be able to shake their issues with hitting with runners in scoring position.

The finale was a must-win to send the Padres back further and to clinch the division at home instead of on the road against the Rockies, where the Dodgers will wrap up their regular season. Thanks to Walker Buehler's best start since coming off the IL (for the second time), and a stunning seventh inning with clutch hitting all over the lineup, the Dodgers did win, officially clinching their 11th division title in the last 12 years.

The Dodgers celebrated in style in the clubhouse, but Dave Roberts gave a noteworthy speech before they popped the champagne, stating, "I promise you this, no team that we face is going to have more fight than us."

Dodgers beat Padres, celebrate NL West division title with fiery Dave Roberts speech

Buehler gave up just one run in five innings, a Luis Arraez RBI groundout in the top of fifth. Evan Phillips came in for the sixth, having truly worked his way down Roberts' "trust tree," and his struggles continued when he gave up two consecutive singles and allowed the Padres' second run to Xander Bogaerts with a sac fly. He was pulled and replaced by Anthony Banda, back from the IL after punching a paper towel dispenser.

Things were looking a little bleak for the Dodgers until the bottom of the seventh, when Will Smith hit his 20th homer of the season to drive in two and even the score. Kiké Hernández singled, Andy Pages reached on an error, and then Ohtani gave the Dodgers the lead with an RBI single. Mookie Betts, whose bat had basically been nonexistent through the first two games of the series, drove in two with an RBI single of his own.

The Dodgers had a nice three-run cushion going into the bottom of the eighth, but Pages gave them even more reassurance with a two-run homer of his own. Michael Kopech came in to close it out, and despite giving up a leadoff double to Bogaerts, he shut it down to put the win in the books.

These Dodgers have a lot of fight in them, and we need to see a lot more of exactly this in the postseason. The team that the Padres saw in the series opener should be history now, because they very well might clash again in the NLDS.