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Four years ago Mikaela Shiffrin had a ”crazy” dream of winning five gold medals at the 2018 Olympics. That aim is seeming less and less unrealistic.

Just after becoming the youngest ever Olympic slalom champion at the Sochi Games Rickard Rakell Jersey , the then 18-year-old Shiffrin dreamed aloud ”of the next Olympics (and) winning five gold medals.”

Right away she admitted her ambition ”sounds really crazy.”

However, less than five weeks ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics, that number seems more obtainable than ever before.

Shiffrin probably won’t win that handful of gold medals, but mainly because she is unlikely to enter five different events in South Korea.

She will only decide on short notice which events she is going to enter at the Olympics.

Unlike at previous games, this time the technical races of GS and slalom are the first events on the women’s Alpine Olympic schedule, enabling Shiffrin to compete in her core disciplines before making up her mind on possible starts in the speed events of downhill and super-G, and the concluding combined and team events.

Developed into a potential winner of every race she competes in, and even triumphing for the first time in a downhill in December, Shiffrin has been dominating the Alpine skiing World Cup for months.

Her win in a slalom in Slovenia on Sunday was her ninth of the season, and seventh out of the last eight races, boosting her career total to 40.

That number leaves her one short of the all-time record for most World Cup wins by a 22-year-old, set by Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell in the 1970s.

With the World Cup season approaching the halfway mark, Shiffrin is leading the overall standings as well as every single discipline except for super-G, the only event she hasn’t won yet.

Her season stats are even far exceeding her achievements from last year, when she became the third American female skier after Tamara McKinney and four-time champion Lindsey Vonn to win the overall title.

Though winning is not all what Shiffrin is after.

”It’s a good way to put it that I am not competing, I am just enjoying every turn that I make, to make every turn aggressive,” Shiffrin said. ”Right now I am just enjoying that so much, the skiing, that it’s even more important than the winning.”

Still, the wins keep piling up.

With 100 points for every victory, Shiffrin has racked up 1,281 World Cup points after 18 of this season’s 38 races and looks set to break the record for the most World Cup points in a single season – 2 Marquis Haynes Jersey ,414 by retired Slovenian great Tina Maze, a record many deemed unbreakable.

In her main event, Shiffrin is not just winning, she is crushing the field. She triumphed in the past four slaloms by margins of 1.64, 0.89, 1.59 and again 1.64 seconds – a country mile in the sport.

Having won 20 of the last 25 slaloms she entered, it’s hard to see past Shiffrin for gold at the Pyeongchang Games, even if the American doesn’t regard herself unbeatable by any means.

”Every single of the competitors can match,” she said. ”That makes me even more motivated to keep moving forward.”

While a night race in Flachau on Tuesday will be the penultimate slalom ahead of the Olympics, Shiffrin will be eager to keep her momentum going in weeks to come.

After Sunday’s race, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden praised the American for ”taking the sport to another level.”

But Shiffrin, who usually refrains from keeping track of her records and statistics, said ”it doesn’t feel like it’s something crazy that’s happening.”

This time, she said, ”it’s not like dreaming. And that’s really cool.”

Enrique Hernandez dodged home on a wild throw by pitcher Matt Bush in the 11th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers edged the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Hernandez drew a leadoff walk from Jesse Chavez (2-1) and moved up on a long flyout. Yasiel Puig was intentionally walked and Chavez was yanked after a walk to Logan Forsythe loaded the bases.

Austin Barnes followed with a comebacker, and Bush reached out to grab it. But Bush hurried as he spun around, and his throw home for a potential forceout pulled catcher Carlos Perez off the plate. Hernandez stepped over Barnes’ bat, pirouetted around the catcher and touched home with his right hand, leaving Perez tagging nothing but air.

”Just bringing back my Latino roots, showing off my salsa moves,” Hernandez joked.

Matt Kemp gave Hernandez a rave review: ”Great slide, avoided the tag Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , very limber.”

The Rangers asked for a replay review, and the safe call was upheld. After Barnes’ at-bat, the Dodgers would’ve run out of position players – instead, Bush’s error sent Texas to its season-worst sixth straight loss. The last-place Rangers got swept for the third time this season and second straight series.

Adam Liberatore (2-1) got the win in relief.

In the third, Kemp and Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos got ejected and the benches and bullpens cleared.

With two outs, Hernandez singled to right and Kemp tried to score from second base. Chirinos caught a pinpoint throw by Nomar Mazara and had his glove out to tag Kemp.

Kemp barreled into Chirinos with his arms up, leading with his shoulder. Chirinos’ helmet flew off as he got knocked over and Kemp fell, too. Chirinos held onto the ball for the out.

Chirinos and Kemp jostled as they got up. That led to both benches and bullpens clearing and forming a scrum at the plate. Kemp was restrained by Rangers starter Cole Hamels.

”I didn’t know he was going to come after me like that,” Chirinos said. ”I got mad when Kemp got up and he leaned into me and put his shoulder into me. That’s when I rushed him. Everyone knows the rule, they preach it to us in spring training. It was emotional.”

No punches were thrown.

”It’s not a big deal,” Kemp said. ”Two guys shoving each other and it’s over.”

The rules outlaw runners from plowing into catchers, and catchers have to give runners a lane to the plate in most cases. In this play, the throw home took Chirinos directly into Kemp’s path to the plate.

”I think it’s unclear to everybody,” Kemp said of the newer rule. ”He was blocking the plate. I don’t know the rule. I don’t even know how it works. I didn’t have a clear path to slide. All I could really think about when I saw him blocking the plate was Washington when I slid into home and messed up my ankle. I didn’t want to do that again.”

Crew chief Bill Welke said Kemp didn’t violate the rule, and both players were ejected for their tussle after the play.

”The runner is protected by the blocking of the plate if he slides,” Welke told a pool reporter after the game. ”Kemp choose not to slide, therefore he lost his protection.”

Hernandez called the third-inning brouhaha ”a little bit of old-school baseball.”

”I’m one of the older guys now and when I first came up that’s how they slid into home, but the game has transitioned,” Hamels said. ”Sportsmanship has changed. I can’t give you definite answer if Kemp broke the rule or not. It’s a tough way to lose.”

With two outs in the ninth and Yasiel Puig on third, Delino DeShields robbed pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal of a home run at the center field wall. DeShields leaped and caught the ball before landing on his rear to send the game into extra innings.

Texas tied the game 2-all in the fourth on RBI singles by Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo.

The Dodgers led 1-0 in the first on Justin Turner’s homer. They added a run in the second on a double steal by Puig and Forsythe. Puig scored from third.

Hamels allowed two runs – one earned – and five hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked four. Turner’s homer was the 18th given up by Hamels this season.

Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda allowed two runs and five hits in five innings while facing the Rangers for the first time in his career. He walked three and struck out one in his first start since May 29 after being on the DL with a right hip strain.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: SS Elvis Andrus (right elbow fracture) went 1-for-7 in his first two rehab games at Double-A Frisco and was to set to be the DH and play seven innings on Wednesday. Manager Jeff Banister says Andrus’ return depends on when he’s in shape to play every day. Andrus isn’t expected to rejoin the team before this weekend. … LHP Matt Moore won’t start this weekend and is being sent to the bullpen to work on his delivery and make necessary adjustments.

Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (lower back strain) threw a bullpen for the second straight day, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts watching. Kershaw also worked on mechanics with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. … LHP Rich Hill (left middle finger blister) will make a rehab start Thursday for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. If it goes well, Hill will rejoin the rotation next week in Chicago. &#