{"id":146618,"date":"2025-08-15T02:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146618\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T02:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:08:10","slug":"roles-reversed-as-padres-dodgers-renew-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146618\/","title":{"rendered":"Roles reversed as Padres, Dodgers renew rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting at a desk inside Angel Stadium on Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged he and his team were not where he thought they would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have expected us to be in second place right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Really, no one could have expected this.<\/p>\n

Not when the Padres last left Dodger Stadium, on June 19, having lost five of the seven games they had played against the Dodgers in the previous 11 days.<\/p>\n

Not on July 2, when the Padres returned home having lost four of six on a road trip to Cincinnati and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Not on July 3, when the Dodgers won for the ninth time in 10 games to move a season-high nine games ahead of the Padres.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played some bad baseball during that time, so we weren\u2019t really looking up at that point,\u201d Manny Machado said Wednesday. \u201cWe were just trying to get back in the win column. But we got back home and leading up to (the trade) deadline, we played some pretty good baseball. We got off to a nice little start in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Machado spoke as he sat in the visitors\u2019 clubhouse at Oracle Park after the Padres won their fifth game in a row and for the 14th time in the past 17 games.<\/p>\n

Later Wednesday, shortly after the Padres arrived in Los Angeles ahead of a three-game series that begins Friday at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers lost their fourth straight game, leaving the Padres alone atop the National League West standings.<\/p>\n

Since July 4, the Padres are 23-12. The Dodgers are 12-21.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani laughs with Padres first baseman Luis Arraez after Ohtani was hit by a pitch on June 17, 2025. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)<\/p>\n

The Padres began to play better just about the time their deficit in the West reached its largest. That mainly involved their offense becoming more consistent. But the results were still middling. They were not a team that was going to overtake the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

They emerged from the All-Star break with a 5-5 road trip before coming home to sweep the Mets, who at the time had won eight straight and led the NL East. Then came July 31, a day off for the players but one of the busiest Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller has ever had.<\/p>\n

On the day of the trade deadline, he filled the team\u2019s holes in left field (Ram\u00f3n Laureano) and behind the plate (Freddy Fermin), added an extra bat (Ryan O\u2019Hearn) and two starting pitchers (Nestor Cortes and JP Sears) and deepened what was by some measures already MLB\u2019s best bullpen by adding an extra closer (Mason Miller).<\/p>\n

\u201cOur GM went all out,\u201d Fernando Tatis Jr. said. \u201cSo we\u2019re not gonna disappoint, by no measurements. So we\u2019re going out there, confident every single day, playing good baseball, clean baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Padres\u2019 Manny Machado hugs Jose Iglesias after he hit a two-run homer in the second inning of Wednesday\u2019s game against the Giants. Ramon Laureano, at left, also scored on the homer. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez\/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)<\/p>\n

The Padres are 9-3 since the trade deadline. The Dodgers, who added a middle reliever and an extra outfielder to a payroll that was already an MLB-high $340 million, are 5-7.<\/p>\n

That has put the Padres in first place in the division this late in a season for the first time since there were eight games remaining in the 2010 season and dropped the Dodgers from the top spot this late in a season for the first time since 2021 and just the fourth time since 2013.<\/p>\n

Since July 27, the Padres rank fourth in the major leagues in runs scored to the Dodgers\u2019 13th. The Padres rank second in ERA to the Dodgers\u2019 fourth.<\/p>\n

Many of the Dodgers\u2019 quotes lately would look familiar to Padres fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, when we hit, we don\u2019t pitch. When we pitch, we don\u2019t hit,\u201d first baseman Freddie Freeman told reporters this week. \u201cOnce we start rounding in shape, we\u2019ll be OK. We\u2019re frustrated in here. But no one\u2019s really panicking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DodgersDodgers star Shohei Ohtani stands in the on-deck circle during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

While the Dodgers haven\u2019t been in this situation for a while \u2014 looking up at another team \u2014 it is way too early to have any idea how this race will conclude.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel really good,\u201d Tatis said Wednesday. \u201cBut \u2026 everybody knows this game, how crazy it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers know how to win. They\u2019ve won the NL West 11 times in the last 12 years.<\/p>\n

And their current skid is not unprecedented in that time.\u00a0This is the Dodgers\u2019 worst 33-game stretch since they went 12-21 from April 11 to May 17, 2018. They went to the World Series that year.<\/p>\n

They went 11-22 from Aug. 26 to Sept. 29, 2017. They went to the World Series that year as well.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers were ripe for a takeover last season, too. Their preposterously expensive roster was diminished by a rash of injuries, primarily to pitchers, while the Padres were sizzling.<\/p>\n

With a victory in the opener of their series at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 24, the Padres got to within two games of the NL West lead with five games to play. The Dodgers won the next two nights to clinch their 11th title in 12 years.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego Padres Jurickson Profar leaps into the stands to steal a home run from Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts in the first inning during Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.\u00a0 (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

A little more than two weeks later, the Padres led the Dodgers two games to one in the NL Division Series before not scoring over the final two games.<\/p>\n

They left Dodger Stadium on Oct. 11 shocked and with a winter to think about what might have been.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens this weekend will not be anywhere near that final.<\/p>\n

For one thing, the teams play each other again next weekend at Petco Park.<\/p>\n

Even after that, they will each have 31 games remaining.<\/p>\n

According to FanGraphs.com projections, which consider a team\u2019s remaining schedule and its players\u2019 projected performance, the Dodgers still have a 62% chance of winning the West to the Padres\u2019 38% chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a month-and-a-half to play,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Padres\u2019 Ryan O\u2019Hearn, right, celebrates with Xander Bogaerts after hitting a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Wednesday\u2019s victory over the Diamondbacks. (AP Photo\/Rick Scuteri)<\/p>\n

It was clear by his tone that O\u2019Hearn did not anticipate getting all that worked up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got another series to play,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said. \u201cThey\u2019re a really good team. We\u2019re gonna show up, we\u2019re gonna play hard and try to win a game. I\u2019m not gonna get too caught up in the rivalry. Maybe that\u2019ll change. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna happen this weekend. As of right now, that\u2019s where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hearn acknowledged he was new to the rivalry. But what he said was pretty much out of the textbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to go compete,\u201d manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday. \u201cClearly, it\u2019s a series people are going to be paying attention to, and we\u2019re just going to go play good, clean, fundamental Padre baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shildt comes as close to managing every game like it might be his last as is possible when a season involves 162 games. When that is the mantra and the mindset, there is less inclination to make a certain series bigger.<\/p>\n

Even if it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery important,\u201d Tatis said. \u201cThe team is in our division, and we want to gain ground. So we better get out there and take care of business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sitting at a desk inside Angel Stadium on Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged he and his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,1266,3549,1306,7264,62,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-146618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-padres","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-top-stories-sdut","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115030347856928668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}