Dodgers, Padres start NL West showdown

For the first time this season, the Dodgers and the Padres will meet in their fight for NL West supremacy. Currently, the two teams are separated by only a half game, with the Dodgers having one more win than the Padres with the same number of losses. The Padres have used the Dodgers’ struggles to their advantage, being able to stay so close to them even though the Padres offense has been lackluster all season – specifically, the big three of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr.

and Jackson Merrill. The Padres have been hanging on with the strength of their bullpen and their starting rotation hanging in there. Between those three aforementioned players, they have a combined OPS around .

600. Machado and Merrill aren’t even reaching base a third of the time, and Tatis has yet to homer. The Padres’ run differential is +7 while the Dodgers’ is + 94.

While the top of the Dodgers lineup has been better overall than the Padres, it is similar how the two offenses have been much more reliant on the rest of the lineup to power them to winning games. The Dodgers have been finally dominating games like they should be. Yes, it was against the San Francisco Giants and Anaheim Angels, but the Dodgers are 5-0 in their last five games with a combined 39 runs scored, including one game in which they scored 15, their highest mark so far this season.