The newest installment of the San Diego Padres-Los Angeles Dodgers rivalry hasn't upset.
The NL West rivals are in the center of their third playoff assembly in the final 5 seasons, with San Diego on the verge of pulling off one other upset over Los Angeles in the NLDS. The Padres took a 2-1 collection lead over the Dodgers behind a 6-5 win in Game 3.
While Game 3 was a good win for the Padres, it did not characteristic the dramatic and tense moments that Game 2 had of their 10-2 victory. Sunday's Game 2 had thrilling performs as every workforce exchanged phrases with one another all through the battle. There was, sadly, an incident the place followers threw objects at Padres gamers, too.
As the Padres look to shut out the Dodgers in Game 4 (9:07 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports app), let's look again at the moments that ignited arguably MLB's most entertaining rivalry.
September 2020
While the Dodgers have been a mainstay in the National League pennant rivalry race for over a decade, the Padres started to threaten their standing throughout the COVID-shortened 2020 season. As San Diego made a push to try to win the NL West away from Los Angeles, tensions heated throughout a matchup in September between the two groups.
Former Padres outfielder Trent Grisham hit a solo dwelling run off Clayton Kershaw in that matchup. Grisham knew the ball was gone proper off the bat, admiring his dwelling run for a second earlier than tossing his bat. He stared down Kershaw when he started his trot to first. He ended his dwelling run trot by chirping at the Dodgers' dugout.
Roberts made it clear that he wasn't proud of what Grisham did following the Padres' win.
“I don't mind guys admiring a homer; certainly it's a big game, big hit,” Roberts told reporters. “Really like the player. But I just felt to overstay at home plate, against a guy like Clayton, who's got the respect of everyone in the big leagues for what he's done in this game, I just took exception to that. There's a certain respect that you give a guy if you homer against him.”
2020 NLDS
The Dodgers wound up successful the NL West in 2020, however that did not cease the two groups from assembly up in the postseason.
Los Angeles decisively gained Game 1 of the 2020 NLDS, 5-1. Game 2 was way more dramatic. The Dodgers received out to a 4-1 lead earlier than the Padres made it a 4-3 recreation in the sixth inning. It appeared San Diego was about to take the lead in the seventh inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. crushed a ball to middle area with a runner on base off Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol. But Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger prolonged his arm over the centerfield fence and made a seize to finish the inning.
The Dodgers have been euphoric of their celebration over Bellinger's dwelling run theft. Bellinger put up a No. 1 signal earlier than chest-bumping Chris Taylor. Graterol took off his cap and glove, tossing each objects towards the Dodgers' dugout.
Manny Machado took exception to Graterol's celebration. He tossed some expletives at Graterol, who blew kisses again at Machado. Other Dodgers gamers, like Max Muncy, had some phrases for Machado, too.
Nothing got here of the alternate, although. The Dodgers held on to take Game 2 and gained Game 3 to full their sweep of the Padres.
April 2021
The Padres continued their push to try to take the division from the Dodgers in 2021, bolstering their pitching workers over the offseason as they acquired Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. The Dodgers made their very own high-profile strikes after successful the World Series, too. They signed reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer throughout the 2020-21 offseason.
Those strikes helped present early-season fireworks between the two groups after they met in a pair of collection. Each workforce made clutch defensive performs to assist seal a win in opposition to one another, with Mookie Betts making a diving seize to win the Dodgers a recreation in one among the matchups.
In the collection at Peco Park in April of that 12 months, benches cleared when Dodgers pitcher Dennis Santana plunked Padres infielder Jorge Mateo on the first pitch of an at-bat in the tenth inning of a recreation. Santana and Mateo received face-to-face as Mateo made his manner over to first, inflicting the benches to clear. Los Angeles went on to win that recreation.
In the collection at Dodger Stadium every week later, Tatis made historical past in the second recreation of a four-game set. The Padres' younger star hit a pair of homers off Kershaw in that recreation, 22 years to the day after his father grew to become the solely MLB participant to ever hit two grand slams in a single inning at Dodger Stadium.
A day later, Tatis had one other two-home run recreation. But these homers got here with some flare. First, he crushed a house run off Bauer, protecting one among his eyes as he rounded first base to mock Bauer for pitching along with his eyes closed throughout a spring coaching recreation between the two groups. After hitting his second homer off Bauer, Tatis flipped his bat earlier than strutting like Conor McGregor again to the Padres' dugout as soon as he crossed dwelling plate.
Tatis advised reporters after the recreation that it was “payback time” for what Bauer did throughout spring coaching. Bauer took Tatis' homers on the chin, saying he really appreciated the Padres star's celebrations.
“I'm all for it,” Bauer told reporters at the time. “And I think it's important that the game moves in that direction, and we stop throwing at people because they celebrated having some success on the field.”
2022 NLDS
The Padres weren't in a position to make it to the postseason in 2021, falling wanting their lofty expectations as the San Francisco Giants surprisingly took the NL West from the Dodgers that 12 months.
San Diego received again into the playoffs, although, in 2022. After a few of the drama between the Padres and Dodgers subsided on the area between April 2021 and October 2022, San Diego outbid Los Angeles to land celebrity outfielder Juan Soto at the 2022 commerce deadline.
The Padres gained their wild-card collection matchup over the New York Mets, setting up one other playoff battle with their southern California rival. Although it was a playoff battle, each groups saved their cool throughout the 2022 NLDS. Los Angeles, who gained 111 video games in 2022, was upset by an 89-win San Diego workforce in the collection. The Padres gained the collection, 3-1, scoring 5 runs in the seventh inning of their comeback win in Game 4 to clinch their spot in the NLCS.
MLB Playoffs: Padres have fun NLDS upset victory vs. Dodgers
May 2023
Some off-field antics brought on one other second in the rivalry in May 2023. The Padres chased Kershaw out of a recreation in 4.2 innings in a recreation at Petco Park on May 6. After San Diego gained that recreation, the scoreboards at Petco Park displayed the normal “Padres Win” signage following Padres victories. However, they added a picture of Kershaw crying subsequent to the textual content, with the picture trying like the widespread Michael Jordan crying meme.
While the motion brought on some controversy, Kershaw did not appear too upset by the matter. He said on Betts' podcast later that month that, “if you don't like it, you just got to pitch better.”
The Padres may need been dealt a deal of karma after inserting a crying picture of Kershaw on their video boards, although. They misplaced 10 of their subsequent 12 video games following the incident. They additionally misplaced 5 video games in a row to the Dodgers after the ordeal, taking part in a hand in why they missed the postseason in 2023.
Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw was trolled by the scoreboard operators at Petco Park following an outing in 2023. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images)
April 2024
After a number of years with none actual pressure on the area, the fireplace in the Padres-Dodgers rivalry lit up once more in April. Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar took exception to a pitch Dodgers starter Gavin Stone threw in the fifth inning of a recreation at Dodger Stadium. Stone's pitch was excessive and inside, inflicting Profar to take a pair steps again to keep away from getting hit by the pitch.
Profar appeared to say one thing to the dwelling plate ump earlier than Dodgers catcher Will Smith stated one thing again at him. Profar and Smith exchanged phrases, with the dwelling plate ump separating the two as the benches cleared.
Smith mocked the concept that Profar thought the Dodgers have been throwing at him in an interview after the recreation.
“I don't know why we would have thrown at him … he's kind of irrelevant,” Smith told 570 AM in Los Angeles.
In the following recreation, Profar confirmed he is related. He hit a three-run double in the seventh inning of a Padres 6-3 win over the Dodgers. Profar didn't want to speak about Smith's comments, however the Padres had his again, even making a “Mr. Relevant” shirt that fans can purchase.
Profar made his first All-Star Game in July, becoming a member of Smith on the National League roster. Smith took the alternative to apologize to Profar for his remark then.
“It was the situation only,” Smith told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “My bad. It was nothing personal. … He’s fiery, plays hard. He’s a competitor. In competition, the best and worst comes out of us. He’s a competitor and a good player.”
Game 2 of 2024 NLDS
Continuing an every-other-year pattern, the Padres and Dodgers met up once more in the postseason in 2024. The Padres made a late-season surge to presumably steal the NL West from the Dodgers, however Los Angeles clinched the division in a collection between the two groups in the remaining week of the common season. San Diego settled for a wild-card spot, however Machado knew a playoff battle with its division rival was on the horizon.
“No disappointment,” Machado advised reporters after the Dodgers clinched the NL West. “We’re in the postseason. We’re going to see them in a few weeks.”
Sur sufficient, Machado's prediction got here true after the Padres swept the Atlanta Braves in two video games in the wild-card spherical, setting up one other battle with the Dodgers in the NLDS. Los Angeles took Game 1 with Shohei Ohtani stamping his mark in the rivalry, crushing an early three-run homer that tied the recreation and sparked a comeback Dodgers win.
The rivalry may need reached its apex in Game 2. After Tatis gave San Diego a 1-0 lead along with his homer in the first inning, it appeared Betts was about to even up the recreation with a homer of his personal in the backside half of the body. However, Profar robbed Betts of a house run, trolling Dodgers followers in the course of as he made it seem that he did not make the seize earlier than exchanging some phrases.
Padres' Jurickson Profar robs Dodgers' Mookie Betts of a first-inning dwelling run
Tensions solely rose from there. After putting out Machado in the sixth inning, Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty exchanged phrases with the Padres star, with every showing to hurl some expletives at one another. Prior to the begin of the backside of the sixth inning, Machado tossed a ball towards the Dodgers' dugout.
Machado's toss to the dugout brought on the Dodgers to ship tape of the incident to Major League Baseball, with Roberts calling it, “unsettling.”
“I don’t know his intent. I don’t want to speak for him,” Roberts advised reporters. “But I did see the video. And the ball was directed at me with something behind it.”
Manny Machado exchanged phrases with Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty throughout Game 2. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
MLB reportedly will not self-discipline Machado for the matter. Tensions nonetheless ran scorching and heavy throughout Game 2, with Dodgers followers hurling objects at Profar and Tatis in the outfield. Padres supervisor Mike Shildt known as it a “hostile environment,” however stated his workforce was “not going to back down.”
The Padres actually did not again down in Game 2. They gained Sunday's recreation, 10-2, earlier than taking Game 3, 6-5. There weren't any heated moments between the two groups in Game 3, however Machado took an uncommon route whereas operating to second base on a floor ball hit to Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman in the second inning. Freeman's throw to second to attempt to induce a double play deflected off Machado into left area, sparking a six-run inning for the Padres.
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Fernando Tatis
San Diego Padres
Los Angeles Dodgers
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