To win their sixth consecutive title in the West League, the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Colorado Rockies in a tiebreaker game on Monday.

The Dodgers have been 12-7 against the Rockies this season, including a 6-3 mark at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles swept Colorado three goals from September 17-19 to build what looked like a solid two-and-a-half-game lead.

The winner will host the first two games of a NL Division series against the Atlanta Braves, effective Thursday. The loser goes to the loser Brewers-Cubs.

With the Brewers-Cubs tiebreaker, it's the first time in the history of baseball that two divisions will be determined by a playoff game.

Let's decompose the playoffs for the league title of the National League West:

Probable pitchers

Rockies of Colorado (German Brand RHP – 14h-10h, time of 3.76) at the Los Angeles Dodgers (Walker Buehler – 7h-17h, time of 2.76), at 16:09. AND.

What is at stake?

These two teams have completed their 162-game schedule with identical records of 91-71 and both will be in the 2018 playoffs. However, the winner of the Monday playoff game will win the NL West title and have the advantage to welcome the Atlanta Braves in the first game of the NL division on Thursday.

The loser must move to face the loser of the tiebreaker at central NL Central in a wild card-type game to take – the survivor facing the Chicago Cubs in their inaugural game of the NHLD on Thursday.

The Dodgers have the advantage on their lawn as they clinch their sixth consecutive title at the NL West. The Rockies have never won a division title in their 26-year history (although they managed to qualify for the World Series as a wild card).

27 outs

The Dodgers juggled their rotation to complete the regular season, so rookie Walker Buehler would be on the mound for the tiebreaker game. Buehler may have been the best starter in the team over the past two months.

In 10 starts since the beginning of August, the 24-year-old's right-hander is 3-1 with a 1.75 ERA and an average of 11.2 strikeouts after nine innings.

For the Rockies, German Marquez was equally dominant over the same period. During his 11 starts since August 3, the right-hander is 5-2 with an average of 2.14 and a rate of 12.0 K / 9.

During Marquez's last start against the Philadelphia Phillies, he tied a modern record by eliminating the first eight batters he faced.

As this is still a regular season game, both teams will have more lineups for September, so any boredom from a starting pitcher could result in a quick fix for Dodgers' Dave Roberts and Bud Black of the Rockies.

As for the starting lineups, the Dodgers will likely play with their standard formation against the right-handed, with left-handed forwards Joc Pederson leading the left field and Max Muncy at first base.

The Rockies are not really worried about battlers; they like to go with their standard range and will probably have Tony Wolters at the receiver. (Wolters was behind the plate for 22 of 32 starts.)

These teams present the two best faults of the National League. The Dodgers are leading the overall standings with an average of 4.93 points per game. The Rockies are just behind at 4.80 points per game.

Not surprisingly, they are first and third in home runs with L.A. leading (233), followed by Milwaukee (218) and Colorado (208).

Keep an eye on …

Dodgers DE Yasiel Puig. The "wild horse" can make a difference on the ground, but the difference it makes is sometimes not necessarily positive. His 0.469 percentage in 123 games this season was the highest since his first year.

However, a statistical oddity that Puig has demonstrated over the last two seasons is a reverse division against left-handed and right-handed pitchers. Normally, right-handed hitters such as Puig are more successful against left-handed. But Puig is the opposite.

Against the right-handers this season, he posted a .301 / .361 / .563 cut line with 18 homers and 47 RBIs. (Against left-handers, this is .212 / .274 / .371.)

Puig can change a game with a shot, a shot on the ground or a defense. But expect the Rockies to associate a left-handed defender with him if he comes in a crucial situation late in the game.

Near and late

Last winter, the Rockies spent a lot of money trying to upgrade their paddock with a free agency. However, with the exception perhaps of Wade Davis closest (43 stops, but with an ERA of 4.13), these weapons with large drawers did not succeed.

Bryan Shaw has an ERA of 5.93, southpaw Jake McGee 6.62 and Mike Dunn is on the disabled list. As a result, the Rockstein Bullpen has a collective ERA of 4.64 – which ranks 26th in the majors.

If the game comes at the end of the innings and boils down to a bull fight, the Dodgers (3.71 ERA, batting average .231) have the advantage.

Several starters, including Kenta Maeda, Alex Wood and All Star Star 2018, added depth by moving to the center. In addition, the Dodgers added the old close Ryan Madson to a late transaction.

And after a tumultuous April month, Kenley Jansen is once again one of the best players of the match. He converted 38 of the 42 chances of saving and lowered his average payment time to 2.80.

At the end

Can good pitching stop hitting properly? This is certainly possible, at least for the first few rounds. Look for Marquez and his batting prowess to have the advantage over rookie Buehler and the Rockies.

The playmaker, Charlie Blackmon, hit the cycle on Sunday in a rout of the Washington Nationals and he leads the NL with 119 points scored. However, the Dodgers have a greater depth than they can use to their advantage during the game.

Los Angeles can deploy players such as David Freese, Brian Dozier, Chris Taylor or Matt Kemp. And the Rocky Mountain paddock has been a weak spot for most of the season. With two extra days off to win, the Dodgers could even ask Jansen to do more than one inning to win.

Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner