Editorials

Dodgers: MLB Expert Thinks LA’s Success Hinges on the Padres

The Dodgers are no longer in control of their own destiny. While they continue to win games and do everything they can to win the NL West, the Giants also continue to get the job done. That has led to LA making up just a half-game in the standings since the start of August despite them winning 30 games over that span.  

And with just 16 games left in the regular season for the Dodgers, time is running out on them quickly. San Francisco has a slightly more difficult schedule ahead of them, but a lot of it relies on the success of 1 team: the Padres. 



The Giants and Padres will face off 8 more times after tonight’s game in the Bay. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, MLB expert Ken Rosenthal thinks that could be very bad for Los Angeles. 

So the Dodgers do stand a chance, but we’ll see how the Padres play in those 10 games against the Giants because I’m not confident that they’re going to play them very tough. 

The Padres have been playing terrible baseball as of late. They just got swept by the Dodgers over the weekend and dropped the first 2 games of their series against the Giants. They’re now 21-30 in the second half and quickly spiraling. 

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If there is one hope for the Dodgers, it’s that the Padres are right on the edge of the second Wild Card spot. That motivation to make the postseason should hopefully be enough to propel them to a few wins over the Giants. 

But if it’s not, the Padres could find a way to keep the Dodgers from their 9th consecutive NL West title. 

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13 Comments

  1. The Dodgers ceded control of this race a couple of months ago. All those extra inning losses with no attempts to move the runner over from second. All those single run losses coughed up by the bullpen or bad first innings by the starters. All those bullpen games and those starting players behind “rested.” They really waited until half way though August to start playing with anything remotely resembling “urgency.” Sure the injures hurt, but they have hurt every team. Now their season will hinge on a one game playoff. The kind of game that historically has not worked out well for the Dodgers.

    1. Well said, rainbirdmuse. We all know to where to put the blame. I remember when Dave said early in the season that he wanted to periodically rest his starters for the big push late in October. If you don’t get into WS, there is no big push. Kinda like watching youth tournament baseball teams where the manager doesn’t put his best pitchers early in the tournament in order to save them for the finals and then wonders why his team is eliminated before getting to the finals.

        1. Spot on Paul, and at the time roberts was Sooooooooooo arrogant about the short bench and resting spa days , like he knew all the Dodgers had to do was show up and teams would roll over.

  2. Roberts ASSumed there would be no race for the Division title, so he could rest the team and not take the rest of the division seriously.

  3. The Dodgers will win enough games to win this division and any other division 98/100.
    The problem began 3 years ago when A.F. gave permission for the Giants to steal one of the smartest mind in baseball, Farhan Zaidi. How many baseball people have degrees from MIT and Berkeley, and apply their brainpower to assembling a team? The Dodgers created the monster from up north, and now they have to live with it.

    1. yup!!! 100 per cent – spot -on. Dodgers have no one to blame but themselves for that one

  4. The Giants are experiencing an amazing regular season for a myriad of reasons, and Zaidi is definitely a part of that. Zaidi’s brilliance can be found in the fact that he worked for the Dodgers’ and he was able to use the Dodgers’ formula, perfected by himself with certainly the contribution of others, to reassemble the Giants. As we all know, Zaidi even included former Dodgers’ players to put the house, that Zaidi set the foundation for, together. As a Berkeley alum, I know that a lot of brainpower comes from there but even the “smartest” get outsmarted and common sense usually prevails. I will say that it seems that “the monster from up North” definitely has a mind of its own because much of the Giants’ production is coming from its veteran players. Regardless, the Dodgers must play very smart AKA “common sense” ball from hereon, which cannot be overstated. I am with you, John and believe that the Division is, and has been, still within our reach. 1.5 games back and I hope the Padres gift not only themselves, but us, with a “W” this afternoon.

    1. Dodgers are experiencing an amazing season – #2 team in baseball, with the best pitching staff and biggest run differential. But the gnats season is extraordinary. Here’s hoping the pods bring the gnats back down to earth. Only need a few more gnat losses!

    2. We may not know how that all went down. To me, I think Farhan wanted to be in control and saw it was not going to happen with Andrew in the mix. He definitely was intellectual, took everything he learned from being around Friedman and thus, has successfully had a great year with his team. At one time, it was said Theo was the best but that rhetoric is history.

  5. I blame MLB for its one game wild card, with the loser out. It should be five games against the best team, or even better, the teams should be ceded so that the two best teams have the chance to make in the NL championship round.

    What does the senior editor of Dodgers Nation think and what can he do?

    1. eliminate the Wild card and go to 4 divisions in each league. Then 5 game playoffs for the DS and 7 game playoffs for the CS. WC stupidity solved. and do NOT go to a descending record playoff like the NBA. MLB is (or used to be ) so much better than that

      1. that is still flawed to me. What if there’s a bad division and the winner have a sub 500 record, and the second best record happen to be in the same division as the best record?
        WC is good for that situation.
        I think it should be #2 WC seed have to beat the #1 WC seed twice to advance. #1 WC seed only need to win one.

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