Half-full duffle bags littered the floor of the Dodger clubhouse Sunday morning while a neat line of suitcases stood just outside the locker room door.
Sunday’s 3-1 matinee loss to the San Francisco Giants, a game which featured another late-inning bullpen meltdown, was the last chance to see the Dodgers at home during the regular season and 46,601 brought tickets to celebrate the occasion, pushing the team’s attendance over 4 million for the first time.
But the vibe wasn’t so much “good-bye” and it was “we’ll be right back,” since the team and its fans are expected to return to Dodger Stadium to open the National League playoffs next week. Even the retiring Clayton Kershaw made that point when he briefly addressed the crowd before the game.
“Remember, we’ve got another month left,” he said. “So we’ll see you at the end of October.”
That may be a bit ambitious. But barring disaster — never count out the Dodgers’ bullpen — the team is guaranteed at least two more games at home this season. The Dodgers will hit the road Monday for their final six games of the regular season with a magic number of three, meaning any combination of Dodger wins or Padre losses totaling four will give the team its 12th West Division title in 13 years — and the Dodger Stadium playoff dates that go with it.
“Our head right now, to be honest, is on winning this division and going forward,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I just want to win the division and get to the postseason.”
They missed a chance to move a big step closer Sunday when they wasted another brilliant performance from right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who held the Giants to a hit over seven innings, retiring 15 in a row at one point.
Sheehan, who didn’t allow a runner after hitting Andrew Knizner to open the third, matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts. But for the third time in four appearances that wasn’t good enough to get the win after reliever Blake Treinen gave up three eighth-inning runs to turn a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 deficit.
Giants’ starter Trevor McDonald, who was making his first big-league start, was nearly as good before tiring in the seventh. Max Muncy opened the inning with a walk — the only one McDonald allowed — and moved to second on a two-strike single to right by Andy Pages. Michael Conforto then looped the first pitch he saw into shallow left field to score Muncy and end McDonald’s day after 89 pitches.
The Dodgers could get no more with pinch-hitter Tommy Edman lining into a double play to end the inning and that proved costly when Treinen (1-7) came out of the bullpen to give up three consecutive hits, the last a run-scoring double from pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey.
Three batters later Willy Adames drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Giants the lead, an advantage they extended to 3-1 on Matt Chapman’s soft grounder to short.
The Dodgers went quietly after that, with a pair of Giant relievers holding them to just a hit over the two innings.
That spoiled the day for a sun-splashed crowd that made history by pushing the Dodgers’ home attendance to a franchise-record 4,012,470. The Dodgers, who averaged 49,537 fans a game in 2025, have led the majors in attendance the last 12 years — excluding 2020, when the pandemic forced teams to play behind closed doors. But the most they had drawn in a season previously was 3,974,309 in 2019.
The Dodgers are the fifth team to top 4 million in a season, joining the Blue Jays, Rockies, Mets and Yankees, but the first to do so since 2008, when both New York teams did it. Colorado holds the major league record having sold 4,483,350 tickets during it inaugural season in 1993, when it played at an 80,000-seat football stadium.
“Like every season it’s been up and down, an emotional year. And for these fans to show up every day, it’s incredible,” Roberts said. “There’s a reason why I feel that we have the best fans in sports, and the numbers speak to it.”
The Dodgers rewarded that loyalty, with their 52 wins at home this season leading the majors. What they weren’t able to do was clinch the division title in front of their fans.
But if they can do that on the road this week, they’ll be right back home for at least two more games at Dodger Stadium in the playoffs.
Notes
Right-handers Blake Stewart and Roki Sasaki both pitched scoreless innings in relief for Triple A Oklahoma City in their final rehab appearances before the postseason roster is set. Stewart struck out one and gave up a hit, throwing nine of his 15 pitches for strikes. Sasaki did not allow a runner, striking out one of the three batters he faced and getting strikes on five of his eight pitches.
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