Padres vs Dodgers Feels Bigger Than Ever Heading Into Massive Series at Petco Park: Column

OK, it’s time for the real season to begin.

The previous 46 games might as well have been exhibitions for the San Diego Padres.

Forget about this past weekend’s “Rivalry Weekend,” although the Padres did sweep the Seattle Mariners to finish the season series at 6-0 and easily clinch the hallowed Vedder Cup along the way.

None of that matters now.

It’s time for Dodgers vs. Padres for the first time this season.

The first-place showdown starts Monday night at what is sure to be a loud, packed Petco Park.

This is arguably the biggest current rivalry in MLB, between teams that had epic postseason meetings in 2022 and 2024, and whose fans love running smack at each other on social media.

The Dodgers (29-18) are coming off a three-game sweep of the Angels in the Freeway Series and hold a half-game lead over the Padres (28-18).

This is massive, of course, because while the Dodgers might not think the Padres are their biggest rivals, Padres fans sure do think it’s all that and more. They don’t like watching the free-spending Dodgers sign seemingly any free agent they want, and that they’ve won consecutive World Series.

East Village and the Gaslamp will be going off every night of this series. Padres fans will hope to see Mason Miller jog in from the bullpen in his “Reaper” entrance to slam the door on the hated Dodgers.

And who knows, maybe Fernando Tatis Jr. will hit his long-awaited first home run of the season.

“It’s always exciting to play the Dodgers,” Padres rookie manager Craig Stammen told reporters. “They’re a great team. They’ve won the World Series the last two years. It’s always fun going up against the best. We’ll see where we’re at.”

Although he’s new to the dugout, Stammen saw plenty of the rivalry as a Padres reliever.

Even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who has become Public Enemy No. 1 in San Diego over the past several seasons, despite growing up in the area, has warmed up about the rivalry.

“I think that we bring out the best in them, they bring out the best in us," Roberts told reporters. “I think it's good for baseball. I think it's good for Southern California, the National League. They're talented."

Roberts, who sparred with former Padres managers Andy Green and Mike Shildt, hasn’t always felt that way about the Padres. Back on April 21, the Padres had won 12 of 14 games, following a 2-5 start, to pull into a tie with the Dodgers atop the National League West.

After the Dodgers lost to the San Francisco Giants that night, Roberts was asked if his squad was in a "gut check" period, what with the Padres catching them and all.

“I don’t think anyone is too concerned about the Padres and what they’re doing," Roberts said.

Fair enough. It’s different when teams aren’t facing off against each other.

Although both teams are coming in on winning streaks — the Dodgers five games and the Padres three — neither has played exceptionally well, with both squads having issues with their offense and rotation.

In the Padres’ case, they continue to win despite not getting solid contributions from two of their highest-paid stars, Tatis and Machado, as well as Jackson Merrill.

Tatis’ power drought remains perhaps the most mystifying thing about this Padres squad.

On the flip side, the Padres are getting it done with grinders like Gavin Sheets, who homered twice in Sunday’s 8-3 win at Seattle and has a team-leading nine, as well as Xander Bogaerts, Ty France and Miguel Andujar.

Monday night’s starters are Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers and Michael King for the Padres. On Tuesday night it’ll be Emmett Sheehan and Griffin Canning, and on Wednesday night it’ll be Shohei Ohtani and his 0.82 ERA against Randy Vásquez and his 5-1 record.

Some might argue the Padres haven’t been the same since their devastating NL Division Series loss to the Dodgers in 2024, when they blew a 2-1 lead and failed to score in the final 24 innings.

The Dodgers have since won two World Series. San Diego had a few chances to overtake the Dodgers in the NL West last season, but failed, and then looked meek in losing their wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers will be back at Petco Park in late June, and then not again until perhaps another postseason meeting, which would really be good for baseball.

While it’s still early, there’s no doubt this is a huge series. Neither team will walk out of Petco Park on Wednesday night with a huge lead, but one of them will have bragging rights.

Petco Park will be the place to be the next three nights.

And the overreactions will be priceless.

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