The Los Angeles Dodgers (93-63) did not come away from their most recent three-game series against the struggling Colorado Rockies (60-96) looking like the best team in the National League, and their next opponent, the San Diego Padres (90-66), will present a threatening challenge that manager Dave Roberts wants his team to be ready for.
The Dodgers won their three-game set against the Rockies 2-1, but lost one game by a margin of three runs — the largest of the series — and won the tiebreaking series finale with a walk-off home run in the ninth inning, which was impressive and electrifying, but should not have happened in the first place. Now, Roberts wants his troops to come out with a sense of urgency tonight against the Padres.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wants his players to outdo the Padres in crucial series
Per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (via Yahoo Sports), the Dodgers’ leader had this to say about how the Padres have gotten the upper hand over them in the past and how Los Angeles can put that to bed by playing with more intensity than San Diego:
“I think it’s pretty easy to see that when we’ve played them, I think 10 times this year, they came out more intense than we did,” Roberts said. “And that’s got to change. I expect it to change. Playing those guys — in certainly very, very meaningful games — will bring out the best in us.”
The Padres have had the Dodgers’ number all season long
The Dodgers are alarmingly 3-7 against the Padres in 2024. They’ve allowed San Diego to score six runs or better in five of the seven games they dropped. This includes a 15-run onslaught on March 21 and an 8-1 rout in their most recent contest.
Los Angeles must come out and proverbially punch the Padres in the mouth from the onset on Tuesday night. Despite injuries to their starting pitching rotation, L.A. has a lot going for them, including the hot bats of NL MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani and former 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts.
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Dodgers RHP Landon Knack can set the tone from an intensity standpoint vs. Padres
Encouragingly, RHP Landon Knack will get the assignment on the mound for the pivotal series-opening matchup. He’ll take his impressive 3.39 ERA, sound 6.8 percent walk rate, and momentum from his most recent win over the Marlins on Sept. 18, where he struck out seven batters and allowed no earned runs into the nighttime affair against a Padres team that leads the entire Major Leagues with a .265 collective batting average.
Knack will set the tone for L.A., and he can establish the intensity that Roberts is looking for by dominating in the early innings with his frequented four-seamer and well-rounded arsenal to allow his star-studded slugging teammates to create a cushion they can hold onto for a much-needed win.
Doing so will allow the Dodgers to keep the Philadelphia Phillies (93-64) from overtaking them for the No. 1 overall seed in the National League with the playoffs just a few games away.
