The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres head into a weekend series with the NL West lead hanging in the balance. What’s become one of baseball’s most heated rivalries has reached a boiling point, and the division standings reflect just how intense things have gotten.
The Padres currently lead the division after winning five straight games. It’s the latest they’ve held first place since 2010.
The Dodgers sit one game back after dropping four in a row – their latest deficit in the division since 2021. That sets up a crucial three-game series at Dodger Stadium starting Friday night.
The last time these teams met, they played seven games in 11 days with the Dodgers taking five of seven. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani exchanged hit-by-pitches, and both managers got into screaming matches with each other. The intensity couldn’t be higher.
“I think that the rivalry part is certainly real,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week. “Which brings emotions. I do think it’s one of those things where they’re very hyperfocused on us. But I guess it’s a compliment. Still, we’ve got to match their intensity because they want to beat us more than anything.”
This rivalry has escalated over the past five years, with the teams meeting three times in the postseason. Most recently, the Padres took a 2-1 series lead in 2024 before the Dodgers won two straight to advance and eventually capture the World Series.
Now they’re facing a different scenario entirely. These teams will play six of their next 10 games against each other – three at each venue.
The Padres aren’t backing down from the moment. Tatis Jr. made that clear when talking about what’s at stake.
“That’s what we’re playing for,” he said. “And, you know, we have to take the lead in first place and stay consistent. This is the team to do it. So it’s now a matter of fact, it’s in our hands, how much we want it.”
The Dodgers are trying to take a different approach – staying calm and not letting the magnitude of the series overwhelm them.
“It’s big, but it kind of is what it is,” Mookie Betts said. “We can’t make it more than what it is. It’s another series in August. Obviously, we all know it’s big and X, Y and Z, but we can’t make it that way.”
Dodgers’ Recent Struggles
After their torrid start to the season, the Dodgers have struggled over the past month and a half, allowing the Padres to climb all the way back into first place.
Since July 3, Los Angeles has posted the ninth-worst OPS in MLB and ranks 16th with a 4.22 ERA. Those numbers tell the story of a team that’s been able to coast on their early success but now finds itself looking up at their biggest rival.
The Dodgers could afford to stumble through July and parts of August when they had a comfortable lead. That luxury is gone now.
“We need to ramp up the intensity,” Roberts said. “We do. Because if we don’t, then I just don’t think it’ll bode well for us.”
What makes this weekend series even more significant is the schedule ahead. With six games remaining between these teams over the next 10 days, this weekend could set the tone for how the division race plays out.
The rivalry that’s defined by emotion and intensity now has legitimate stakes attached. The Padres have their best chance in over a decade to win the division, while the Dodgers are trying to avoid their biggest collapse in recent memory.
It all starts Friday night at Dodger Stadium, where two teams that genuinely don’t like each other will battle for control of the NL West.
