By Geoff Mosher

Copyright phillyvoice

If they meet the Dodgers again before the season is over, the Phillies have to feel pretty good about their chance of dethroning the defending World Series champs.

Not only did the scorching hot Phillies come to Los Angeles this week and celebrate a National League East division clinch in the Dodgers’ home stadium by winning the opener of a three-game series, they proceeded to win the series along with the season series (4-2) and bolster their confidence that the Dodgers shouldn’t be viewed as an insurmountable obstacle in their way if both teams meet in the playoffs.

The Phils didn’t just beat the Dodgers; they sent a message by rallying from deficits in both of their wins. They have now won five straight regular-season series against the Dodgers going back to 2023.

Looking for the sweep with Jesús Luzardo on the mound Wednesday, the Phillies couldn’t summon the magic one more night, but they did put runners in the ninth to cause a brief scare.

But the damage was done Monday and Tuesday, as both games were won by the Phillies in final last at-bat.

J.T. Realmuto plated Harrison Bader from third in the 10th inning on Monday, capping a comeback from down 3-1 in the fifth and clearing the way for the bubbly to pop inside the visitors locker room.

The next night, the Phils were staring down a 4-0 deficit – understandable given their postgame festivities the night before – but erupted for a six-run sixth and then got a three-run homer from catcher Rafael Marchan in the ninth that broke a 6-6 tie.

By the end of Tuesday night, the Phillies had not only clinched the NL East but also made sure that they owned any tiebreaker scenario over the Dodgers for postseason seeding.

The Phillies left L.A. 5.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the overall NL standings and just 2.5 games behind the Brewers for the NL’s best record and top seed. More impressively, they wrapped up a streak of 15 games in 15 days in which they went 11-4. They’ also won their sixth straight series since that late-August sweep to the Mets in Queens.

Some other storylines from the three-game series:

Bullpen beatdown

The Phillies, as they typically do, bludgeoned the Dodgers’ bullpen. On Monday, they scored five of their six runs from the seventh inning on, with Byrce Harper belting his 27th homer in the eighth off Dodgers southpaw Alex Vesia, a major piece of their 2024 World Series bullpen.

On Tuesday, Shohei Ohtani blanked the Phils lineup for five innings but five Dodgers relievers combined to give up nine runs, with lefty Justin Wrobleski getting hammered for 5 runs in one-third of an inning and Marchan touching up Blake Treinen for a three-run shot.

Really, this is what the Phillies have done all season. According to Stat Muse, the Phillies had scored MLB’s fourth-most runs (743) against relief pitching and had the second-highest batting average (.260) among all MLB teams against bullpens going into Wednesday’s action.

Schwarber chase

Kyle Schwarber clubbed his 53rd homer Monday night, making him five away from tying Ryan Howard’s record of 58 from 2008. Schwarber has nine games left to tie or break the record.

Has he hit five homers in a nine-game span this year? Thanks for asking. The answer is yes. Several times.

Schwarber belted five homers in seven games from April 29-May 6, and from May 2 to May 11, and from May 11-20, and from July 2-11, and … well, you get the picture. He’s more than capable of doing it, and the Phillies next stop in Arizona’s homer-friendly Chase Field sure doesn’t hurt his chances.

The Phillies are off Monday before finishing their West Coast trip – and entire road schedule – against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field with a three-game series. Per Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies will piggyback Taijuan Walker and Walker Buehler on Friday as they set up their rotation to make sure Cristopher Sánchez is their Game 1 starter in the playoffs.

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Follow Geoff on Twitter/X: @geoffpmosher