Expert Disappointed with Padres & Division-Rival Franchise's 2023 Seasons Thus Far
At the start of the 2023 season, all signs pointed to the NL West being the Padres division to lose. Their rivals, the LA Dodgers, have dominated the NL West for the past decade, and the Padres were primed for that to change this season. The division was set to be a two-team race between Los Angeles and San Diego.
However, that hasn't been the case for either team, especially the Friars. San Diego currently sits at 28-32, fourth place in the division and seven games behind first place. The Dodgers are tied for first place with the, yup, you guessed it, Arizona Diamondbacks. Just like we all predicted it would go, right?
The rivalry hasn't panned out how we all figured it would, and because of this, an MLB expert for Bleacher Report lists it as a dud in the 2023 season.
Did the...did the Padres get the memo? Because judging from their 27-32 record and 1-5 mark against the Dodgers, it sure seems like they didn't. A historically bad average with runners in scoring position isn't helping, and ditto for a revolving door of injured sluggers. Mind you, the Dodgers themselves shouldn't be let off the hook. They're also playing under expectations at 35-25, and the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks have the same record is making it increasingly fair to question whether they're actually the team to beat out west.
San Diego wishes they could be in LA's spot. At the moment, the Friars don't look like the championship squad we all thought they would be. Now, I believe they can still overcome this bad start, but there have been no signs of it happening.
As Rymer mentioned, there has been no rivalry between the two, at least in the regular season. The Padres have only beat LA once out of six games in 2023 and were manhandled in the 2022 regular season. San Diego has the edge in the playoffs but to no avail in the bigger picture of things.
Both teams, particularly the Friars, hope to be where they want to be come October. If that happens, we could see another classic matchup between these two rivals.
