Dodgers officially need to worry about Padres, Diamondbacks as NL West race heats up

On Wednesday night, the Dodgers ended their five-game win streak with a brutal 5-4 loss against the Brewers, brought on by a less-than-reassuring return start from Walker Buehler and three errors from three different Dodgers — Gold Glovers Nick Ahmed and Mookie Betts, and one from Kiké Hernández. Then, on Thursday, they blew their lead in the eighth inning to split with Milwaukee.

It broke up the good vibes the Dodgers had going after Betts' return and him roaring back onto the scene with a home run and three RBI in his first game. The team's five-game win streak sent the Dodgers to the No. 1 seed in the National League, brushing past the Phillies, who have lost four out of their last five.

However, the Dodgers have things to worry about closer to home. One of the teams the Phillies dropped a series to was the Diamondbacks, who took three out of four in Arizona last week, and the D-backs are now 11-2 in August. The Padres have also been on a ridiculous tear; they're 10-2 in August.

Both of these surges put the Diamondbacks and Padres just two games behind the Dodgers for first in the NL West, and they're both playing much more consistent baseball than LA.

Diamondbacks and Padres are just two games behind Dodgers after ridiculous starts to August

When July wrapped up, the Dodgers were 63-46 and up 4.5 games for first place over the Padres, with the Diamondbacks trailing half-game back from there. The Dodgers haven't had too shabby an August either (they're 8-4), but if anything, they seem to be losing momentum right when their closest competitors seem to keep getting better and better.

If the postseason were to start tomorrow, the Diamondbacks and Padres would face off in the Wild Card and the Dodgers would play the winners. The Dodgers have seen the D-backs three times this season already and have lost two of those three series; they've seen the Padres four times and have split a series and dropped the other three.

So it's not a great outlook for the Dodgers who, lest we forget, were swept by Arizona in the NLDS last season. They have one four-game set against the Diamondbacks and a three-game series against the Padres left during the regular season. If they can hang onto their lead until then, then those two series will be crucial in not only maintaining their bye in the postseason, but avoiding a fall into a Wild Card spot altogether.