When the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Manny Machado during the All-Star break, they trailed the Arizona Diamondbacks in the standings but were the overwhelming favorites to win the National League West.
Machado provided an early spark but he and the team also went into a slide, which put them 4.5 games back of the Diamondbacks as recently as last week. They early made up all that ground behind back-to-back series sweeps and Arizona hitting their own troubles.
With the teams meeting for a pivotal four-game series this weekend, Machado told David Vassegh of AM 570 L.