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Coming into Thursday, the Dodgers have baseball's best record (71-31) and best staff ERA (3.12), both by comfortable margins. The Astros have the second best record (67-34) and the Diamondbacks have the second best staff ERA (3.52).

Despite their record and strong pitching staff, the Dodgers are not going to rest on their laurels prior to Monday's non-waiver trade deadline. The team is reportedly seeking a top starting pitcher and they are increasingly confident they will get a deal done.

That's quite the range of possible outcomes there. Yu Darvish is a high-end rental. Sonny Gray is very affordable and is under team control through 2019. Justin Verlander is on a big money contract that runs through 2019, with a vesting option for 2020. Los Angeles has their pick of the litter here.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw went down a back injury this past weekend and he is expected to miss 4-6 weeks, which should give him plenty of time of time to get ready for the postseason. That said, the Dodgers want to make sure they have enough rotation depth, and besides, there's no such thing as too much pitching. I think they were planning to add a starter even before Kershaw got hurt.

One thing to keep in mind: the Dodgers have a very good working relationship with the Athletics thanks to general manager Farhan Zaidi, who worked in Oakland's front office for years. He helped broker last summer's Rich Hill/Josh Reddick trade, and his familiarity with Brandon McCarthy and Scott Kazmir helped bring them to Los Angeles. That relationship could come into play in a potential Gray trade.