Rivalries in baseball can sometimes be difficult to define.
There are the obvious ones. Like the Yankees and Red Sox. The Cardinals and Cubs. And for the Dodgers, going back to their founding in New York, a generations-old hatred for the Giants.
“By definition, you can’t just decide to choose your rivalry because one team gets good,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “And for the Dodgers, that’ll always be the Giants.”
But periodically, there are other emotionally charged, highly competitive, and simmering clashes; often taking root between simultaneous contenders, bad-blooded division foes or closely situated fan bases sharing a mutual dislike.
Over the last half-decade, that’s what has slowly been built between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
And in their first renewal of the season on Monday night at Petco Park, an 8-7 extra-innings win for the Dodgers, the two clubs lived up to the matchup’s ever-growing hype.
“Both teams are good. The fan bases are very adamant. Both environments have been hostile over the last several years,” Muncy said. “It brings everything that a rivalry should bring.”
A traditional rivalry, it’s still not quite. The Dodgers have as many World Series titles as the Padres do playoff appearances (eight each). Since the Padres last won the National League West in 2006, the Dodgers have done it 13 times.
But after three playoff meetings in the last five years, and a seemingly tight division race on tap this season, Dodgers-Padres is now a full-blown, certifiably legitimate rivalry — at least in the eyes of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Read more: Clayton Kershaw delivers exactly what the Dodgers need in win over Cardinals
“I think it’s become a rivalry,” Roberts said, “because the stakes have been higher.”
That was certainly the case last October, when the Dodgers outlasted the Padres in a memorable five-game National League Division Series.
But even entering Monday, the importance of this week’s three-game series at Petco Park — plus a four-game rematch between the teams next week at Dodger Stadium — had been magnified, the Dodgers leading the Padres by just one game in the National League West standings in their pursuit to defend last year’s World Series title.
“It’s going to be an intense series,” Roberts said. “It probably will feel like a playoff game tonight.”
It certainly played out that way.
Both teams scored twice in the first inning. The lead then changed hands three times between the second, when the Padres scored on a Will Smith throwing error; and the third, when Smith answered with a two-run homer to punctuate a three-run rally, only for the Padres to score three on a bases-loaded triple from Tyler Wade that got past a diving Teoscar Hernández in right center.
The Dodgers (40-29) got the game tied again in the fifth, with Hyeseong Kim doubling home Muncy in a rare opportunity against a left-handed pitcher (he is three-for-three in such situations this season).
Read more: Andy Pages is used to beating the odds, and he’s doing it again with the Dodgers
The Padres (36-29) skirted even more trouble along the way. In the fourth, the Dodgers couldn’t take advantage of an infield pop-up that dropped between three Padres fielders. In the eighth, San Diego reliever Adrian Morejon misfired on the most routine of throws to first base with two outs, letting Shohei Ohtani reach second, but then struck out Freddie Freeman to escape unscathed.
But once the game reached the 10th, the Dodgers surged ahead. Andy Pages led off with a line-drive RBI double that outfielder Brandon Lockridge badly misread in left. Tommy Edman followed with an RBI single that ricocheted off the second base bag. And though closer Tanner Scott gave up an RBI double to Jackson Merrill — one at-bat after Manny Machado was rung up on a controversial called third strike — the former Padres left-hander limited the damage there.
Round 1 of Dodgers-Padres this year went to the defending champions. More heavyweight fights figure to follow.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here