Dodgers vs. Padres preview: NL West up for grabs in San Diego
The Dodgers are in the NL West, but the Padres sit just half a game back heading into this week's three- game series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres meet for the first time this season on Monday, May 18 at Petco Park and with just half a game separating these two teams, it could make for some intense baseball in this early season NL West showdown. The Dodgers are back in the top spot in the divisional standings after briefly being surpassed by their rivals to the south after a five-game winning streak. The Dodgers bats woke up from a slump over the final two games of their home rivalry series against the San Francisco Giants and throughout a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim over the weekend with Shohei Ohtani seemingly turning a corner at the plate, but San Diego presents a different challenge than either of those teams.
Craig Stammen habló sobre la intensidad de la rivalidad entre Padres y Dodgers, destacando lo emocionante que es cada enfrentamiento entre ambos equipos. Vía: @FiguezDSS #MLB #Padres #Dodgers pic. twitter.
com/4N53BL0hs0 — D/S Sports MX (@dssportsmx) May 19, 2026 The Padres also have gotten off to a slow start offensively. Fernando Tatis Jr. notably has yet to hit a single home run in 193 plate appearances this season and has a .
581 OPS, almost 200 points under his career low of . 771 in 2023. Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill, two of the Padres' other most impactful bats, have yet to provide said impact yet, either, with Machado slugging .