The last time the Padres won six consecutive games against the Dodgers within a season?<\/p>\n
The year was 2010.<\/p>\n
Maybe a quirk is all this was. The Dodgers, who tend to brush off bad outcomes, still lead the Padres by 3 1\/2 games in the National League West standings. They\u2019re still a heavy favorite to win the divisional race. Just last season, the Dodgers overcame an extreme number of pitching injuries, plus a Padres surge in the season\u2019s second half, to win their 11th divisional crown in 12 years.<\/p>\n
But if only for diligence\u2019s sake, Padres leaders have to consider a few things relating to the Brewers going 6-0 against the defending World Series champions.<\/p>\n
The trade deadline comes July 31.<\/p>\n
Did the Brewers expose the Dodgers as a tad less formidable than Padres talent man A.J. Preller may have thought when the month began and when L.A. came out of the All-Star break Friday?<\/p>\n
Preller has made \u201cgo for it\u201d moves in two recent summers. If he believes the Padres have a realistic shot at winning the trophy, he has shown he\u2019ll upgrade the team going into the stretch push.<\/p>\n
![\"Dodgers'](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AP25201149368874.jpg\")
Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani, left, and Esteury Ruiz watch from the dugout during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, July 19, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n
Milwaukee\u2019s pitching plans should pique the Padres\u2019 interest, too.<\/p>\n
The Padres, whose pitchers and coaches are terrific at reading opposing hitters, might glean a useful nugget or two there.<\/p>\n
Brewers pitchers held L.A. to a .163 batting average and four runs in Milwaukee. Then in the series opener Friday in Dodger Stadium, they won 2-0, getting a gem from a low-pay pitcher, Quinn Priester, who had 10 strikeouts and zero walks over his six innings. The Brewers are Priester\u2019s third franchise in four years. His salary: $760,000.<\/p>\n
Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages have dealt the Padres numerous headaches.<\/p>\n
Betts went 2-for-21 with five strikeouts in six games against Milwaukee. Pages was 3-for-22 with eight strikeouts and no walks, and Freeman was 2-for-22 with 10 strikeouts before exiting Sunday\u2019s game after he was hit by a pitch.<\/p>\n
![\"Milwaukee](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AP25201807225422.jpg\")
Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin is a able to handle a foul ball hit by Dodgers\u2019 Freddie Freeman during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n
The Brewers have to outsmart teams like the Dodgers because they\u2019re a full galaxy apart in spending.<\/p>\n
L.A.\u2019s MLB-best payroll is $274 million greater than Milwaukee\u2019s outlay, which stands 23rd. For every dollar the Brewers spend on their big-league roster, the Dodgers spend more than three.<\/p>\n
The Padres bring a lot of fastball heat. So do the Brewers, and their velocity made the Dodgers look sluggish until the final two games. In the three games at Milwaukee, the Dodgers batted .193 against the quintet of rookie Jacob Misiorowski, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill. Per Sports Illustrated, those five averaged 96.3 mph with the fastball.<\/p>\n
Last month, I wrote about how the Padres would treat the Brewers with respect rather than look ahead to their season-first series against the Dodgers that followed. When he led the rival Cardinals, manager Mike Shildt gained an appreciation for the Brewers\u2019 ability to outperform their payroll in most seasons.<\/p>\n
The Padres did match and exceed the Brewers\u2019 attention to detail, winning two of the three games in Milwaukee. Ruben Niebla\u2019s pitchers allowed only six earned runs in the 27 innings.<\/p>\n
Where the Padres have an advantage over the Brewers is star power, reflected in San Diego\u2019s payroll, which is $90 million larger.<\/p>\n
But the Brewers and Cubs are denting the belief that the National League West is the league\u2019s best division.<\/p>\n
At 59-40, the NL Central co-leaders also have the National League\u2019s best win-loss mark.<\/p>\n
Are the Brewers now upper-tier World Series contenders themselves, as they try to reach a second Fall Classic in franchise history?<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be interesting to see how their leaders view their chances. Adding a power hitter might make sense, as the team stands just 23rd in home runs and home runs are needed to win the trophy.<\/p>\n
In the summer trade market, the team\u2019s front office and owner Mark Attanasio tend to be conservative.<\/p>\n
The Padres, who have three September home dates with the Brewers, will be among the teams paying attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baseball seasons serve up all kinds of surprises. Here\u2019s a fresh one, and while I don\u2019t know what…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":79495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,1266,3549,1306,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-79494","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-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114888805155065497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79494","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=79494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}