Padres Star Downplays Dodgers as Real Competition in NL West

He says the Padres aren't worried about the Dodgers.

One of the biggest storylines of this 2023 season is the battle of the National League West. The Dodgers won the division by a whopping 22 games last season, but then lost to the division-rival Padres in the NLDS.

Then, the Padres reloaded in the offseason, while the Dodgers saw a lot of their top 2022 contributors leave. Safe to say, no one expects the Dodgers to win the NL West by 22 games this year. And, even more so, many expect the Padres to win it outright.

Ahead of the Padres' matchup with the Mets earlier this week, Padres star Juan Soto was interviewed on TBS and asked about the Padres' rivalry with the Dodgers. Here's what he had to say.

"We’re not worrying about them," Soto said. "They should be worrying about us. I mean, we showed up last year. I mean, we showed them what we have in the playoffs. And we just came up, played good baseball and beat them. Now, we add more players, we have more depth in our lineup, our bullpen is great, I always say we have one of the best bullpens in the league. And I think they should be worrying about us, we aren’t worrying about anybody."

"We're not worrying about them. They should be worrying about us."

-Juan Soto on the Padres-Dodgers rivalry 👀 pic.twitter.com/q5WJsstC13

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) April 11, 2023

Soto is definitely confident, but it seems a little much to say the Dodgers should be worrying about the Padres, considering they've had a slow start out the gate, too. Both teams are currently 7-6, and trailing the 8-5 Diamondbacks in the division.

But, the Padres have made it clear that they like to talk, while the Dodgers usually like to allow their play to do the talking.

These teams don't meet until May, with the first series between them being in San Diego from May 5-7. That's sure to be a fun series of storylines.