Padres' Dylan Cease Embracing Major Playoff Run With San Diego

Matt Levine | Aug 1, 2024

The San Diego Padres have been on a roll of late, winning nine of their last 10 games overall. The team is eight games above .500, sitting at 59-51 on the season.

San Diego just finished a two-game sweep of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers at home, slowly chipping away at the Dodgers lead for the National League West. After the series, the Padres now only sit 4.5 games behind the juggernaut Dodgers, the closest margin that the team has been to since early May.

Behind the Padres' success lately has been the performance of ace right-hander Dylan Cease. Cease was coming off a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals and proceeded to shut down the Dodgers.

The righty went 5.2 innings of work, allowing one run, one run, and striking out six batters. He knew how important of a game this was against Los Angeles has been embracing the intensity of the playoff run for the Padres.

“Every game we’re playing now is extremely important,” Cease said after earning his fourth consecutive win. “We need to bring this, continue to bring this focus and intensity and effort to every game we’re playing. We’re really looking good right now.”

Cease has been everything that the Padres hoped he would be when they made a late offseason deal for him. He has posted an ERA of 3.42 over 23 starts for San Diego, striking out 174 batters over 136.2 innings.

On Thursday, he showed why San Diego decided to trade for him and gave the Dodgers a reminder of what could have been. Before the Padres landed Cease, he was heavily rumored to be of interest to Los Angeles.

While the Padres have a lot of work to do to fully overtake the Dodgers, this was a great start. The team won the season series with Los Angeles for the first time since 2010, giving them a potential tiebreaker in the standings if things came to that point.

The Padres next see the Dodgers during the final week of the regular season for three games in Los Angeles. If things continue the way that they have been, those games could determine the winner of the division.

San Diego has to feel great about themselves after this two-game series win over the Dodgers but they can't rest on their laurels. As they are well aware, regular-season success doesn't always translate over to the postseason.