The Los Angeles Dodgers were anything but taken aback upon learning that they’d be facing their National League rival San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series this fall.
The Dodgers (98-64) finished the 2024 campaign with the best record in the MLB and had the luxury of taking a week off to rest from the end of the regular season until their postseason opener to wait and see who they’d be facing between the winner of the NL Wild Card series in the No. 4-seeded Padres (93-69) and the No. 5-seeded Atlanta Braves (89-73).
Dodgers’ Gavin Lux expected to play the Padres in the NLDS
San Diego made quick work of the Braves in a two-game sweep of the NLWC. Thus, Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux had this to say about the team’s expectations as they watched the Padres and Braves battle it out, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
“Yeah, the last couple years with them being really good and us being really good, we’re always going to have to play each other in the playoffs the way our teams are set up,” Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux said. “I think we kind of expected to play San Diego anyways, especially with (Braves ace Chris) Sale going down,” Lux said.
When asked about the implications behind L.A. winning their most recent season series against San Diego, Lux said:
“They kind of kicked our ass all year. So to have them come here in some meaningful games where it felt like a playoff game where the last few years it didn’t really matter, I think that only helps. You build the intensity up and it doesn’t feel like you’re just jumping into a playoff atmosphere.”
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The banged-up Dodgers will face a tall task against a star-studded Padres front
The Dodgers will now square off against the Manny Machado-led Padres for the third time in the last five years. Los Angeles swept San Diego 3-0 in their NLDS meeting in 2020 — the same year they won the World Series — and on the other hand, lost 3-1 in their most recent NLDS clash in 2022.
Albeit, on the regular season campaign that just came to a close, the Dodgers lost the head-to-head battle 8-5, but did get the last laugh with a key 2-1 season series victory in their last three-game slate.
The Padres are a formidable opponent for the Dodgers and their injury-stricken pitching rotation to game plan for. They have star sluggers in Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jurickson Profar, Luis Arraez, and Jackson Merrill spearheading their batting order and elite pitching from Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Yu Darvish to name a few.
Thus, the Dodgers will have to translate that readiness over to the field come Saturday and beyond if they want to down the team with the league’s best batting average (.263) and most hits (1,456) from 2024, and get one step closer to a World Series crown.
