LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers started the season as a sweat-inducing nightmare in blue, a assortment of expertise so deep that it tongue-tied these across the sport who tried to clarify the mom lode.
This was an absurd $1 billion runaway freight practice, artistic accounting apart, that greedily devoured up Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
That was plopped on prime of gems Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who saved alive a run of 10 National League West championships in 11 seasons.
So why have the Padres felt as snug as well-worn denims round a workforce constructed to wreak baseball terror this season? Why is a workforce constructed with a mind-numbing stage of largesse truly a good matchup for them?
Because … issues change.
Because baseball rewards those that play it in a successful manner fairly than merely those who make investments the gross home product of Trinidad and Tobago.
Because these should not the Padres of previous — as Tuesday’s 4-2, triple-play-ending win proved.
Because the Dodgers’ beginning pitching is nowhere shut to what the season promised.
Because baseball bends issues that may appear to be certainties and inevitabilities to its mischievous will.
As the groups lined up on a crisp Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, an NL West title that had felt all however cemented remained moist and unpredictably wild.
The Padres screamed by way of the standings because the All-Star break like a McLaren on the Autobahn to make the ultimate handful of video games in September enormously significant.
They additionally satisfied many alongside the way in which that the Dodgers should not a matchup that calls for a bucket of antacids, however simply may be the workforce they need to see within the playoffs in spite of everything.
“It’s big energy,” Padres proper fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. mentioned. “Big energy all the way around. You know, everybody knows how good a team we’re facing. But everybody knows how good we are.”
“… Just the team that we have, the confidence that this group has shown since Day 1. I think that really matters a lot.”
They wrapped up the season sequence uber-early, bringing a 7-3 document between the golf equipment to Chavez Ravine. They are now not the pestering upstart of even a few seasons again, however a actual menace.
A run to the 2022 NL Championship Series, which ran over the Dodgers, provided a taste. A season in the past signaled a uncooked step backward.
The spice returned, and Tuesday added the scrumptious timing solely late September can.
“I think last year they definitely didn’t live up to their ability, the talent they had,” Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor mentioned of the Padres. “This year, they’re doing a better job. They’ve gotten some guys that have really stepped up and contributed for them that maybe weren’t expected to.
“(Rookie center fielder) Jackson Merrill’s been a huge addition and then the guy starting for them tonight, (Michael) King has been outstanding all year. I’m sure there’s other guys you could name as well.”
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts framed issues with extra edge.
“I expect us to just come out with some vigor and fight, intensity,” Roberts mentioned. “… We’re trying to win the division, so we’re trying to put these guys to bed.”
That began early on Tuesday.
Otherworldly slugger Ohtani laced a ground-rule double to proper subject on the sport’s first pitch. When a bouncer to shortstop by Betts adopted, an overthrow by Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts led to a fast run.
The Padres defused what might have been a big inning, momentarily stemming the bleeding, when Teoscar Hernández tried to steal second with Betts on third.
Catcher Kyle Higashioka’s throw led to a rundown possibility. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth fired to Manny Machado at third, the place they erased Betts scrambling again.
Importance-rich baseball was off to the races.
“It’s very important, but at the same time just go out and have fun and play the baseball that we’ve been playing for the last couple months,” Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar mentioned.
You might really feel the Padres strolling the tightrope between acknowledging all this season has change into, the nagging roadblock the Dodgers at all times current and being sensible about how totally different this workforce feels.
Instead of the Dodgers delivering a deadly blow early — one thing that might have been a mountain too tall most instances a season in the past — they confirmed the sort of low blood stress required to reply.
That got here within the type of a two-run homer to proper by Cronenworth that allowed the Padres to surge in entrance 2-1 within the second. When the Dodgers loaded the bases within the backside of the inning with two outs and Betts coming to the plate, King struck him out.
The Padres made it 3-1 when Bogaerts cashed in on Profar’s leadoff double within the fourth and Cronenworth tacked on one other run with a two-out double.
“We have to match that intensity,” Roberts mentioned. “I think the talent is similar in both clubhouses and then it’s kind of who wants it more.”
More than something, the Dodgers should not as marketed within the spring as a result of their beginning pitching is hanging on by a thread.
Glasnow is gone. Injuries swallowed up Dustin May and Gavin Stone, whereas Tommy John surgical procedure is delaying Tony Gonsolin. Clayton Kershaw stays banged up. Walker Buehler and Tuesday starter Landon Knack have been inconsistent.
The Padres’ rotation, in the meantime, has grown into a beast and the offense is among the many most efficient in baseball behind elite contact and the least strikeouts within the sport.
“On paper, it’s quite different (from the spring),” mentioned Joe Musgrove, the Padres’ projected starter for Game 3 of the sequence. “I don’t feel like we’re taking them any lighter because of their injuries or because of the production we’ve gotten. This is a dangerous team.”
So the thought of a matchup in October, when seasons rely upon it, has change into an fragrant brew certainly.
Spring nightmares should not at all times these of the autumn.
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