Dodgers' grip on top NL seed is loosening in troubling fashion

The Dodgers were embarrassed in brutal fashion during their visit to Detroit this past weekend. Although they managed to take the first game, even with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on the mound, it was only by a one-run margin. The next day, they were up by five runs going into the ninth inning, but the Tigers stormed back and got the better of since-optioned Ricky Vanasco and typically-brilliant Evan Phillips to walk it off in extras.

Game 3 ended in similar fashion. With the Dodgers leading by one going into the bottom of the ninth, Yohan Ramírez gave up a game-tying single, then threw away a fielded bunt from Wenceel Pérez that allowed the Tigers to walk it off again.

The Dodgers' record fell to .577 and made them 5-9 this month. They still lead the limping NL West by a margin of seven games over the Diamondbacks and Padres, but their lead in a different crucial area is slipping. With no games scheduled until Friday, the Dodgers will have to stare straight in the face of losing their No. 2 seed in the postseason to the Brewers while the All-Star festivities rage.

Dodgers close to losing their second seed bye to the Brewers after embarrassing series loss vs. Tigers

The Brewers are sitting atop the NL Central with a .567 record and lead the Cardinals by a 4.5 game margin. It's pretty much set in stone that they'll make the postseason, but they'll have to compete with one of three Wild Card teams as long as they finish third among the NL divisions. For now, anyway.

Milwaukee is having almost as bad a July as the Dodgers have had; they're 5-8 over the first two weeks of the season and had almost identical records in the last two weeks of June. However, the Brewers' run differential is right on the heels of the Dodgers' (79 to 88), and all it would take is one more Dodgers loss and one more Brewers win for Milwaukee to take the second seed spot.

In the Dodgers' 65 previous years in LA, they've made the postseason 28 times but have always evaded the Wild Card round with a bye to the NLDS in the years since it was introduced, never participating in the terrifying one-game Wild Card showdown. We all know that these Dodgers are postseason challenged, so it's easy to catastrophize when thinking about how they might fare with an extra series thrown into their World Series victory path.

The Dodgers need to use this All-Star break to take a breath and reset, but we might be stuck in this rut until the trade deadline. Until then, LA can only hope that the Brewers don't start on a major run after the break.