Series preview: Dodgers at Padres
The Los Angeles Dodgers (11-2) travel to San Diego to take on the Padres (9-5) in the year's first matchup of National League titans.
As much as the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers are playing for themselves this season, they’re also playing against each other. Each game they play in the regular season will be hugely important in determining what happens in the playoffs, and therefore more important than the other games those two teams play.
Tonight starts the first series between the two, a three-game series at Petco Park that will soon be followed by a four-game series at Chavez Ravine.
Pitching matchups
Ryan Weathers (L) vs. Walker Buehler
Yu Darvish vs. Clayton Kershaw (L)
Blake Snell (L) vs. Trevor Bauer
Sometimes, you have to take a moment to laugh at the speed in which the Padres have built a team that can contend with the Dodgers. One of those moments is now, when we can look at those three pitchers are remember that none of them were on the Padres major-league roster before the playoffs last year.
This is the best group of pitchers San Diego has thrown at Los Angeles in decades, but it starts with the rookie getting his first major-league start. So far, Weathers has seemed like a unicorn: a rookie who is not the least bit rattled by the big moment. Tonight might be the ultimate test of that.
The Dodgers have worked hard to eliminate one of their old Achilles’ heels, left-handed pitching. Their lineup used to be heavily left-handed, but the additions of Mookie Betts and Will Smith and A.J. Pollock over the years has made it less of an advantage for opposing pitchers. Still, better to be throwing two legitimate lefties at them than not.
What have they done recently?
The Dodgers lost their first game of the season, a wild 8-5 Rockies win at Coors field, and have gone 11-1 since. They won five games in the a row, dropped a 4-3 game to the Oakland A’s, and now have another six-game winning streak going. They are playing very good baseball right now.
The Padres had a disappointing home series loss to the Giants, which started with a scary injury to Fernando Tatis Jr., and then went on the road. Things started well, with a clean sweep of the Rangers, before the Padres dropped a couple of games to the lowly Pirates. They managed to escape that four-game series with a draw, but questions and doubts are swirling around the 9-5 Padres as they welcome the Dodgers into town.
Key injuries
Padres
Fernando Tatis Jr. is expected to be taken off the injury list today, in time to be in the lineup tonight.
Dinelson Lamet is still building his elbow back up and will not return until after this series.
Wil Myers’ knee is barking at him, making him “day-to-day”, but expect him to play a lot against LA unless it gets a lot worse.
There’s been no word on Austin Nola since he resumed batting practice almost two weeks ago. I wouldn’t be shocked if he appears at some point during this series, but there’s been no indication that it’s coming.
Dodgers
Cody Bellinger is unlikely to play in this series. He’s dealing with a calf injury.
Tony Gonsolin is dealing with shoulder inflammation and was unable to throw without pain in practice sessions a few days ago. I doubt he factors into this series.
Brusdar Graterol is not injured, but building up (like Lamet). Seems like he’ll only be available in an emergency.
Joe Kelly, one of the Dodgers’ best relievers, has an undisclosed illness and no timetable for return. He’s out.
Gavin Lux was scratched from yesterday’s game with a sore wrist. I imagine, like Myers, he’ll play through it if they need him to go.
Lineups
Padres
Trent Grisham, CF
Fernando Tatis Jr., SS
Manny Machado, 3B
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Wil Myers, RF
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Tommy Pham, LF
Victor Caratini, C
This is something of a guess because we haven’t seen Grisham and Tatis in the same lineup yet. It will also be interesting to see if Cronenworth, who has been incredible, gets moved up in the lineup somehow. I bumped him above Pham, who has been terribly unlucky so far.
Dodgers
Mookie Betts, RF
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Max Muncy, 1B
Will Smith, C
Gavin Lux, 2B
AJ Pollock, LF
Chris Taylor, CF
You’ll be shocked to know that the Dodgers offense has mostly been driven by Seager-Turner-Muncy in the middle of the lineup this year. Those guys have been on fire. Betts, Smith, and Taylor have also been good.
A potential curveball here is Zach McKinstry, who has a .297/.325/.649 slash line off the bench. He got called into service with Mookie injured and definitely did his part. The Dodgers will find ways for the young outfielder to get into the lineup against San Diego, too.
Expectations
You could spend all of your time talking about how terrifying the Dodgers’ offense is and completely miss the fact that they might have the best starting rotation in baseball and a bullpen that’s been good (if not a little top-heavy) early on. They don’t have a lot of weaknesses, but them moving their rotation around to get their three best pitchers against the Padres does show at least a semblance of fear that they are being chased by a legitimate threat.
If you imagine this series to be something like Godzilla vs. Kong, you’ll probably get an idea of what’s coming. Lots of big punches, lots of back and forth, and lots of emotions for both sides to deal with at the end. (Editor’s note: I have not seen Godzilla vs. Kong.)
I often feel like youth can work like a jolt to get the entire team going. A really good game from Ryan Weathers and Fernando Tatis Jr. tonight could really turn this series in favor of the home team. If it goes sideways and turns bad, I could also see the Padres getting overwhelmed with the speeding machine that is the Dodgers at the early part of this season.