Dodgers embark on final road trip of season

Tuesday through Thursday: Nationals at Washington

Friday through Sept. 28: Pirates at Pittsburgh

With the Dodgers making their only visit of the year to the nation’s capital, what better time for the presidential version of the The Week Ahead? And what a historic week it will be, with the Dodgers playing their first regular-season game in Washington with a Democrat in power since 1896. The president then was Grover Cleveland, not to be confused with Grover Cleveland Alexander, the right-hander who won 373 games in a 20-year career. The Democrats haven’t exactly been a good-luck charm for the Dodgers, though, since three of the team’s five World Series titles in L.A. have been won during Republican administrations. In an effort to change that mojo, the Dodgers will visit the White House this week. They’ll be invited back if they win another World Series and, with a magic number of nine after Saturday, they’re likely to take a big step in that direction by clinching their second consecutive division title on this trip, the last one of the regular season.

-- Kevin Baxter