Bayern Munich clinches Bundesliga title with 5 weeks to spare

Bayern Munich’s winning is getting boring. And that, as much as any statistic or subjective description, is a credit to the club’s dominance.

Bayern clinched its sixth consecutive German Bundesliga title on Saturday with a 4-1 victory at Augsburg, and it did so with over a month to spare. It’s not the first time that’s happened, nor will it be the last. But it’s nonetheless remarkable.

With the win, the Bavarians went 20 points points clear of second-place Schalke. At their current pace, they’ll have won the six titles by an average margin of more than 16 points. Prior to their current run, no team in the history of German soccer had ever won the top flight more than three times in a row.

The story of Bayern’s season was inevitability despite difficulty. And fittingly, that was the story of Saturday as well. Munich went 1-0 down away from home to an awfully unfortunate Niklas Sule own goal. It still trailed after a half-hour.

But Augsburg lost Corentin Tolisso in the box on 32 minutes:

Six minutes later, Joshua Kimmich skinned his opposite number to set up James Rodriguez for what turned out to be the winner:

Arjen Robben laced home a third to seal the deal shortly after the hour mark, and Sandro Wagner piled on three minutes from time. In the end, Bayern cruised.

It cruised just as it has for the past several months. After dropping seven points in its first seven games, it won 15 of its subsequent 16 matches under Jupp Heynckes. It has dropped just eight points since Oct. 1. The early wobbles gave way to customary excellence, and have become an afterthought.

The worry for everybody outside of Munich is that there is no end in sight. Bayern’s financial superiority is, in many ways, prohibitive to a legitimate title challenge from elsewhere. Its resources far outstrip its competitors’ in almost every way.

But there is another side to Bayern’s success. The club’s longstanding and now almost ingrained advantages don’t diminish it. A sixth straight domestic title, with a second treble in six years still in play, is reason to celebrate. And that’s what Bayern will do on Saturday, even if ever so briefly, before turning its attention toward more difficult tasks.

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer, and occasionally other ball games, for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell.