Since the 2018 Dodgers season has not exactly been a lot of fun, and Los Angeles is currently in the middle of a very nerve wracking race for the NL West, I thought we could take a look at the month of September and make some fun, bold, sure-to-(not) come true predictions.

Dodgers throw caution to the wind and play the hot bat, and not matchups—There’s supposedly good reasons for playing matchups and maybe it works. But it hasn’t so far this season, while players that have gotten hot waste away on the bench. The front office finally gives in and let’s whomever is playing well be in the lineup—stats be darned.

With hot bats in the lineup, the Dodgers greatly decrease strikeouts—The Dodgers struck out 15 times in Wednesday night’s game. Not exactly the recipe for success. But with all the hot bats playing at once, strikeouts go way down and run production goes way up.

Inspired by the offense, and with less pressure from not being tight games, the bullpen flourishes—Kenley Jansen is able to fully recover from his heart issues and mental tiredness and is able to regain all of his strength and swagger from last season. Pedro Baez builds on his recent success. Baez, along with Scott Alexander and Jansen form an unstoppable 7-8-9 trio.

Alex Verdugo is one of those hot bats that just goes crazy in September—Alex Verdugo, long been pined for by many Dodger fan GMs, works his way into the lineup as a September call-up and proceeds to bat .437 with 5 homers. Fan GMs everywhere are vindicated.

Kyle Farmer pushes Austin Barnes from the second catcher position—Austin Barnes has been less than stellar this season, and Kyle Farmer seizes the opportunity to showcase the what he can do.

Rich Hill throws a perfect game—It finally happens, and Dodger fans everywhere lose it. He also hits a double in the game and we get to see the gloriousness that is Rich Hill running.

Chase Utley gets hit every game he plays in, and after winning the World Series with the Dodgers, retires happier than any major leaguers ever have before—Chase Utley‘s son, Kiké, could not be more proud.

In direct contrast to the same time period last season, the Dodgers go on a 12-2 run—Los Angeles puts some distance between themselves and Arizona and Colorado and fans have a little relief before the playoffs start.

After the Dodgers clinch the division, both Manny Machado and Brian Dozier proclaim they immediately want to re-sign in the offseason—Negotiations immediately start taking place for this to happen.

In reality, though, we all know what will happen. The Dodgers will take this right down to the wire, and the division will be decided on the last day. None of us will have any nerves or livers left, and most will be wondering if the playoffs will be what finally kills us. That’s just the way this season has gone.

Do you have any crazy predictions for the last month of the season? I want to hear them!