Dodgers win battle vs. Padres in MLB's hottest rivalry: 'Playoff atmosphere'

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SAN DIEGO — Everyone in Southern California has driven on the dreadful Interstate 5 with its consistent traffic and it isn't just the highway that connects the West Coast from America's northern and southern borders: it's where baseball's hottest rivalry resides.
Dodger Stadium and Petco Park are connected by the highway, and to the south is where one of the top series in MLB commenced this week. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres met for the first time since their thrilling 2024 National League Division Series matchup, and renewed the rivalry in their growing battle not just for Southern California supremacy – but for the top of the sport.
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In the season-long heavyweight battle, Round 1 went to the Dodgers, taking two of three in San Diego.
'The atmosphere is great,' said Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto, in his first season with the club. 'It definitely felt different in this series. So, that's a good start to my career with this rivalry.'
There's plenty of historical rivalries in MLB. There's the Red Sox-Yankees, Dodgers-Giants and Cardinals-Cubs to name a few. While bitterness will always be present in those big-time rivalries, it's fair to say none are generating more heat in 2025 than the Dodgers and Padres.
San Diego was one win away from eliminating the Dodgers in last year's postseason before Los Angeles won two do-or-die games to advance en route to the World Series.
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With a loaded roster of veterans and young stars, San Diego will take another shot at slaying the dragon, while the MVPs of Los Angeles try to quell a Padres club that has a legitimate shot to win its first World Series.
Now, whenever these two teams are in opposite dugouts, the stadium is filled and the atmosphere feels like it's October – even if it's a Wednesday afternoon game in June.
'This being a playoff atmosphere – against this team – awesome series to be a part of,' said Dodgers pitcher Ben Casparius.
Michael Conforto celebrates his home run with Shohei Ohtani.
The series started very similar to what transpired in October 2024. The first game was a back-and-forth affair with 11 runs scored in the first three innings before the Dodgers won it at the end 8-7 – this time in extra innings. In game No. 2, the Padres blitzed Los Angeles and Dylan Cease mowed down the lineup for a 11-1 rout.
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In the rubber-match, in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,481, the injury-plagued Dodgers pitching staff limited San Diego to four hits and Teoscar Hernandez woke up from his slump with a game-changing three-run home run to push the defending champions to a 5-2 victory.
Before the series started, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts tried to downplay its significance. But it's easy to see how badly each side wants the upper hand. Roberts said it was 'really important' to win the series opener, and find a way to at least split the last two games.
And the Padres know how significant this first matchup was. Even though they have proved more than formidable, the series loss is a reminder they still are trying to prove they aren't the little brother to Los Angeles – especially after how last season ended.
"This year, we're going out there to try and take them down,' said Padres third baseman Manny Machado. 'We've been trying to do it for a couple years now, and we are going to continue to try to do it until we reach our goal."
NL West is the gauntlet of MLB
While San Diego and Los Angeles are separated by the 124-mile stretch on the highway, go up to the Bay Area and and you'll find one team seeking to throw a wrench into the SoCal showdown: the San Francisco Giants.
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Considered an enigma to begin the season, the Giants have found some of the magic that propelled their 107-win 2021 season. They entered Wednesday winners of six straight, and thanks to San Diego's loss, they sit in second place in the NL West, one game behind the Dodgers and one game ahead of the Padres. And you can't forget the Arizona Diamondbacks 6 ½ games behind.
San Francisco will head to Los Angeles to face their longtime rival in a three-game weekend series at Dodger Stadium this weekend. After dueling the Giants for first place in the division, the Dodgers welcome these Padres for a four-game set. This comes in the middle of the Dodgers' 26 straight games against teams with winning records.
'It's the gauntlet,' Roberts said.
While there's a bigger spotlight when San Diego and Los Angeles face off, you can't write off the Giants from causing havoc. Should San Francisco continue rolling, it could leave its NL West counterparts fighting for wild-card positioning instead of a division title.
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But for now, the Dodgers and Padres remain among the favorites to contend for a World Series, and it makes for a blockbuster, star-studded affair in all 13 meetings this season.
For as much as either side wants to win the regular season series, it historically doesn't mean much should they meet in October for the fourth time in six postseasons. In 2022, the Dodgers dominated the regular season meetings at 14-5, only for the team with the best record in baseball to lose the NLDS in four games.
Last season, the Padres won the regular season series 8-5, the first time they've done so since 2010. The reward? Losing to the eventual World Series champions in the divisional series after jumping to a 2-1 series lead.
'It's fun playing these guys. I think they know they're talented, we know we're talented,' Roberts said. 'It's a fun series. It's a big series, but it's not the end all be all – certainly in June.'
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers vs Padres: MLB's hottest rivalry highlights NL West standings