Sept. 20--The Dodgers' magic number for winning the National League West remained unchanged at seven with 14 games to play following Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a sweltering Dodger Stadium matinee.
But even as time runs out on a pennant race that long ago lost its drama, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly has begun turning his attention to another magic number: 25.
That's the number of players the Dodgers can carry on their postseason roster and with two weeks remaining in the regular season, Mattingly has a number of tough decisions to make to get to that limit.
On Sunday, Corey Seager and Mike Bolsinger, neither of whom were in the majors at the beginning of the month, tried to prove they deserve consideration.
Seager, who is hitting .379 since his call-up, had a double in four at-bats and made a splendid fielding play in the third inning to start a rally-killing double play. He also hit third in the batting order, his sixth different spot in 17 games.
"He can hit. So I look at it like that," Mattingly said of Seager, who has reached base in 16 of his 17 games in the majors. "It doesn't really matter where he's at. He's just hitting."
Bolsinger, whom Mattingly said will remain in the Dodgers' rotation the rest of the regular season, was blistered by 97-degree heat and a second-inning line drive off his body before leaving with two on and one out in the fifth inning when trailing 3-2.
Bolsinger (6-4) was burned by the long ball, too, giving up a solo home run to Starling Marte in the third inning and another to Pedro Alvarez in the fourth, twice handing back one-run leads. He gave up three other hits and four runs -- -- three earned -- in 4 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out four.
Yet with No. 3 starter Brett Anderson likely to set a career best for innings pitched this summer despite a series of injuries, Bolsinger could still earn a postseason invitation as a long reliever and an insurance policy for the rotation.
"We haven't got to thinking like that yet. We're still trying to win games," Mattingly said.
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