Dodgers, Padres compete in Spicy Nl West Race: “ The part of the rivalry is certainly real ” ‘
The drama will be compressed again, with six games in 10 days. When Los Angeles and San Diego Padres dodgers get involved, it means a lot of time for tensions to explode.
“I think the part of the rivalry is certainly real,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts this week. “What brings emotions. I think it is one of those things where they are very hyperfocus about us. But I suppose it is a compliment. However, we must correspond to their intensity because they want to beat us more than anything.”
Look no further than three after-season series in the past five years, including last year’s confrontation which has sparked fireworks between Roberts and his former player, Padres third goal player Manny Machado. Look no further a few months ago, in June, when Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani each took their respective success and the director of Roberts and Padres, Mike Shildt, exchanged beards. After this dust, Shildt made sure to inform everyone: “I am not a personal guy. I am not a resentment guy. But I am a guy from Foxhole.”
The drama resumes on Friday, while the paadres return to the Dodger stadium to launch the most important section of the seasons of the two teams. The Padres have had an advantage of a match in the NL West, their last understanding of a division advance in a season since 2010 and the last Dodgers deficit since 2021. A Dodgers division advance which grew as large as nine games on July 3 has evaporated, with Los Angeles at only 12-21 since.
Mookie Betts and Manny Machado crossed the courses during last year’s NLDs, a tense confrontation with simmer tensions. (Harry How / Getty Images)
Enter, a chance to reset – or a chance for dodgers to fall even more.
“It’s big, but that’s what it is,” said Mookie Betts. “We cannot do more than what it is. This is another series in August. Obviously, we all know that it is big and x, y and z, but we cannot get there.”
“This is why we play,” said Tatis Jr. “and, you know, we have to take the lead in the first place and stay consistent. It is the team to do it. So, it is now a matter of fact, it is in our hands, how much we want.”
Padres Dodgers Visualization Guide
| Time (A) | TV | Flow | Likely |
|---|---|---|---|
|
10:10 p.m., Fri. |
MLBN and MLB.TV (National); |
TBD |
|
|
9:10 pm, Saturday. |
MLBN (National); |
Dylan stops |
|
|
4:10 pm, Sunday. |
MLBN and MLB.TV (National); |
Yu darvish |
Thus, both sides enter the cauldron again. It remains to be seen how many emotions boil. The last time, it meant that Roberts was ejected from a match and that Shildt loads in his direction in another. The benches were released. Roberts said he and Shildt had not discussed the War of Words that consumed the most recent series between the Dodgers and the Padres.
“I never want to make myself, I really don’t do it,” said Roberts. “I just took offense from his answer to me. I thought it was directed towards me. But I just want to go out and play a good baseball. It’s a bit where my head is. “
Since July 3, Dodgers have ranked 22nd in baseball with an .710 OPS in attack. They rank 16th with an MPM of 4.22. Four of their last five defeats have been accompanied by a collapse of the enclosure of the lifts.
“We have not played our potential in any way,” said the president of Dodgers of baseball operations Andrew Friedman this week.
Hope is that the issues – and perhaps the opponent – could help dodgers start again. Los Angeles won five of the seven games against the Padres in June, capping a month of matches against teams greater than 0,500 at the time which solidified the position of the team.
Well, so far.
“We have to increase the intensity,” said Roberts. “We do it. Because if we don’t do it, then I don’t think it’s okay for us. “
Roberts has entered this season by preaching a mission for a team seeking to be the first repeated champions of baseball in a quarter of a century: be the hunter, not the hunt.
It didn’t play.
“Obviously, in the standings, you are literally hunted,” said Roberts. “But also, I think the way we played is not hunting.”
Now, dodgers have no other choice. They look at San Diego, something they have never done so late in the year during this regular season race.
The paadres took a 2-1 lead in the NLDs of last year, pushing the dodgers to the edge of the elimination.
Los Angeles replied and did not allow to run for the rest of the series.
Dodgers cannot hope that something similar this time.
– AthleticsDennis Lin has contributed to this story.
(Top photo of Mike Shildt and Teoscar Hernández: Jayne Kamin / Oncea-Imagn images)
