Another Chapter in the Battle for Southern California Baseball

by William Gilhooly

Sportz Nation - 5/22/2026

Photo by K.C. Alfred via The San Diego Union-Tribune

Manny Machado already knew what the reporters were going to ask him following the Padres 4-0 rubber match loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, going 0-4 with one strikeout. Machado’s batting average (has now) dropped to .178 and now has a negative WAR on the year, currently at -0.2

When asked about his offensive struggles postgame by a San Diego reporter, Machado responded very passive aggressively stating, “I’m a baseball player, I’m not a theorist.”

This is the kind of emotion that can only come from the fastest growing rivalry in the sport. The Dodgers and Padres have met each other in the playoffs three times since 2020 and have finished one-two in the division every year besides 2023. There have been many intense moments in the heated battle for Southern-California and this mid-May series has proven to be no different.

Game 1

Game One saw an epic pitchers duel between aces Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Michael King. The Padres got started with a homer from Miguel Andujar in the 1st inning and thanks to King's arm that's all they needed for the victory. King went seven superb innings allowing four hits and no runs while striking out nine. King has had an excellent start to his 2026 campaign following an injury-plagued 2025 season, consistently lowering his ERA to a now 2.31, while striking out 59 in 58.1innings pitched. Along with King’s dominance, Mason Miller would take over and continue his form on the year, notching his 15th save on the season.

Yamamoto (also) put up quite a fight himself with Andujar’s solo homer in the 1st being the only blemish on a near perfect outing, going seven innings and giving up three hits, one run, and striking out 8. 

Game 2

Game Two gave the back-and-forth vibe that has made this series so popular the past few years, with the teams constantly trading blows throughout the game. Dodger’s Freddie Freeman kicked off the party with a two-run homer off Griffin Canning in the 1st inning, getting him out of his long, May slump. Machado answered with a two-run homer of his own in the bottom-half of the inning off of LA’s Emmett Sheehan. Miguel Andujar would later cracked his second homer of the series in the 3rd giving the Padres a 4-2 lead.  But then a Shohei Ohtani RBI groundout and a second Freeman homer tied the game up at 4-4 in the 5th and 6th innings respectively.

The Padres would bring Miller out for the 9th where he has been the saving grace for the team in the series and on the year. As the saying goes, “Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword” and in the 9th inning, due to a throwing error by Miller and a sac fly by Andy Pages, the Dodgers gave Miller his first loss of the year, and won the game 5-4.

This game was a huge coming out party for Freeman who has been a huge boost for the Dodgers' top of the lineup, which has struggled severely over the start of the season.

Game 3

The rubber match, (which had an unusual energy for a regular season game) ended with everyone seeing why Shohei Ohtani is the most freakish player to ever play. Ohtani homered off the first pitch of the game thrown by Padres' Randy Vasquez and then proceeded to throw 5 scoreless innings while striking out four. Ohtani would lower his already league-leading ERA to 0.73 and has made an early and compelling case to win his first ever CY Young.

Teoscar Hernandez also homered in this game, bringing his monthly OPS up to .861. Hernandez, (who was a silent acquisition compared to the star-power in the Dodgers 2024 free-agent class) got off to a great first couple seasons in L.A but ran into a slump in the beginning of this season. This month of May has really got Hernandez going and with it, has helped take pressure away from some of the heavy scrutiny that comes with the Dodgers' top of the order.

With Hernandez and Ohtani’s efforts, along with several others among the league’s best roster, the Dodgers would easily take the rubber match by a 4-0 score to win the series.

Photo by Gregory Bull via Associated Press

Moving Forward

Despite the Dodgers winning this series, this division race is far from over. As the season goes on, several questions still need to be answered to determine who is going to win this competitive division.

For the Dodgers, health has to be the priority. This is the most talented and expensive roster in baseball but the injury bug has bit them big time and is dangerously frequent on the pitching side. Pitchers Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Jack Dreyer, and Brock Stewart have all been placed on the 15-day IL, and Edwin Diaz, Bobby Miller, Ben Casparius and Brusdar Graterol are expected to miss a significant portion of the season on the 60-day IL Utility man Tommy Edman and Outfielder Kike Hernandez are also expected to miss significant parts of the year on the 60 day IL.

There's no denying the talent level on this team, however for them to make an attempt at the coveted three-peat, health has to be the priority for this team. Outside of Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski, the rotation has also got to step up until Snell and Glasnow return. Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan both hold ERAs over 4.9 and will need to give the top of the rotation as much help as possible to preserve the already injured bullpen from adding on extra innings. Prized offseason acquisition Kyle Tucker has also fallen victim to a slow start and while it’s only a matter of time for one of the most consistent players in baseball to heat up, it feels like the Dodgers need his offense now more than ever given the injury problems.

For the Padres, living and dying by an elite bullpen is not a sustainable strategy for a team with division-champ aspirations and the offense needs to turn around quickly. Gavin Sheets and Miguel Andujar are the only (two) players currently above the league average OPS of .720 at .868 and .822 respectively.  All-Stars Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, and Manny Machado are all in the biggest slumps of their decorated careers and all hold OPSs under .605, and the trio currently has a combined WAR of -0.1. The team currently holds the worst batting average in baseball and also ranks 23rd in runs scored and 29th in OPS. Getting these three going is a must if the Padres want to contend for a division title as no amount of pitching or bullpen help is going to be able to save them with the offensive performance they have put up so far. This is very evident by San Diego’s inability to win one-run games, even with a pitching staff that has held up so far; the offense just hasn’t given the support needed to continue this success long-term.

This race has been one of the most bitter rivalries over the past few years. Whether it was the intentional throwing at Andy Pages in last April’s series, the intense, five game NLDS series in 2024, or the fact that these two teams spend more money than almost everyone else in baseball and are separated by only 120 miles has made this arguably the quickest growing rivalry in baseball. And if this week's series was any indication of how things are going to be this year, we are due for another fiery season of Southern-California baseball.

-Will Gilhooly