The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 4–1 on Monday, 14 September, at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati and clinched a postseason berth for the 14th consecutive year, Reuters (Field Level Media), the Los Angeles Times, ESPN, and NBC Sports (AP) reported. That streak ties the major-league record set by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 through 2005, ESPN, LA Times, and NBC/AP stated. Los Angeles’s record after the win was 91–59.

Tarik Skubal started and went seven innings with zero runs allowed, nine strikeouts, three hits (all singles on the Reuters line), and one walk, earning the win to move to 10–7, Reuters FLM, ESPN, and LA Times reported. LA Times said he allowed four baserunners (three singles and a walk) across seven shutout innings. Skubal was acquired from the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 2; ESPN and NBC/AP noted he is 3–2 with a 2.52 ERA in eight starts since the trade and that this was his second win against Cincinnati in seven days after a Sept. 8 outing.

Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández supplied the decisive home runs. Tucker led off the second with a solo homer — his 15th of the season and third in five games on Reuters/ESPN — off Nick Lodolo. Tucker walked with two outs in the fourth and scored when Hernández hit a two-run homer to right-center, making it 3–0, Reuters FLM, ESPN, and LA Times reported. Enrique (Kiké) Hernández added an RBI single in the seventh for 4–0 after Teoscar walked and stole second, per Reuters and ESPN. Lodolo (3–5) went seven innings and allowed four runs on three hits, Reuters said.

Elly De La Cruz hit a 457-foot home run to center off Evan Phillips in the ninth for Cincinnati’s only run — the longest homer by a Reds player this season and the longest this year at Great American Ball Park on ESPN/NBC. Phillips then retired Sal Stewart and Tyler Stephenson to end it. Cincinnati’s record stood at 70–80 on the Reuters and LA Times accounts; the Reds had dropped six of seven and their elimination number dropped to one, Reuters noted.

Standings and clinch context on the wires: the Dodgers became the third team assured of a playoff spot after Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, ESPN and NBC/AP said. They cut their magic number to three for a fifth straight NL West title and a 13th division crown in 14 seasons on those same wires and the LA Times. Reuters FLM said Los Angeles pulled within two games of Milwaukee for the National League’s best record. Manager Dave Roberts, quoted by the LA Times, said the club’s message after a champagne toast was that they had not come close to playing their best baseball yet with 12 games left.

Skubal, quoted by the Los Angeles Times after the understated toast, said the celebration was "different than anything I've experienced" and that the room's expectation was to "forget it happened" and accomplish more. LA Times reported the club will save a messier celebration for a division clinch. Alex Vesia threw a clean eighth after Skubal; Phillips closed after De La Cruz's ninth-inning homer, Reuters FLM and ESPN recorded.

Tuesday's published starters on ESPN/NBC: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (13-8, 2.62 ERA) for Los Angeles and Rhett Lowder (6-10, 5.81 ERA) for Cincinnati. Those are the next-checkable mound names on the wires, not predictions of result.

Named actors locked to Reuters FLM, LA Times, ESPN, and NBC/AP: Skubal (7 IP, 0 R, 9 K, W 10–7); Tucker and Teoscar Hernández (home runs); Kiké Hernández (RBI single); Lodolo; De La Cruz; Roberts. The desk does not invent World Series forecasts. The checkable record is 4–1, 91–59, Skubal’s seven scoreless with nine strikeouts, and a 14th straight berth tying Atlanta 1991–2005.

What comes next is checkable: the published NL West standings and Dodgers magic number (three on Monday’s wires); Los Angeles’s next starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cincinnati’s Rhett Lowder on Tuesday’s published probables; the Braves’ 1991–2005 streak as the tied record line.

Floor: Dodgers 4–1 CIN; 14th straight berth (tie Braves 1991–2005); Skubal 7 IP 0 R 9 K (W 10–7); Tucker and Teoscar HRs; LA 91–59.