the Los Angeles Dodgers have won 67% of the time since the All-Star break and yet have seen their division lead trimmed by a game and a half until recently it seemed as if the month of August would signal the start of another one of their prolonged postseason tryy out periods but the San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks the teams that eliminated them from the division series in 2022 and 2023 respectively have pushed them hard the Dodgers two national league west Rivals are also the only teams that have fared better over the last seven weeks yes that's right the three best records in the majors since the allstar break belong respectively to the Padres Dbacks and Dodgers Dave Roberts LA's ninthe manager has vacillated between whether that qualifies as a negative development or a positive one for his Club on one hand urgency can take its toll on a roster forcing teams to overly rely on key players at a time when they would prefer the opposite on the other the Dodgers LED their division by at least 10 games dating to AI 16 in 2023 and July 21st in 2022 only to get trounced in their first postseason rounds