The Dodgers on Sunday night beat the Padres in Dodger Stadium, 4-0. Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Anderson was dominant, allowing just two hits in seven scoreless innings. Cody Bellinger homered twice, and Max Muncy collected two hits the day after he hit a pivotal three-run homer. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman each added two hits as well.
Really, though, the individual game wasn’t really the point. The big-picture takeaway here was the Dodgers’ continued ownership of the Padres.
With this sweep, the Dodgers are now 8-2 against the Padres this season, having outscored them 55-18. The Dodgers won their last nine games over the Padres last season, so overall they’ve won 17 of their last 19. This is something that has been happening for a while, too. The Padres haven’t won a season series against the Dodgers since 2010. From 2011 to present, the Dodgers are 127-63 against the Padres.
Less than a week ago, the Padres got a ton of attention in light of the trade deadline. They added Josh Bell, Brandon Drury, Josh Hader and, of course, the biggest prize of trade season in 23-year-old superstar Juan Soto. The attention was merited. It was a playoff-caliber team bringing in some serious reinforcements, including one of the very best players in baseball who is under team control through 2024.
The Dodgers are, however, still the superior team. No one paying attention would have said otherwise. With the series sweep, they open up a 15 1/2 game lead in the NL West. At 75-33, they have the best record in baseball. They are on pace to win a franchise-record 113 games.
On top of all that, yes, they still totally own the Padres. Not that they should have needed to remind everyone, but the weekend series strongly drove the point home.
KVSP