The San Diego Padres Finally Beat The Los Angeles Dodgers In Historic Fashion
On Saturday night, the baseball world had an array of emotions as the San Diego Padres beat Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to advance to the NLCS, snapping their 24-year NLCS drought. In a year where the Dodgers were seen as one of the top teams in the league, if not the top team, to lose to their rivals who were mightily struggling not too long ago is mind blowing.
The Los Angeles Dodgers went into last night’s game being down 2–1 in the series. They started out strong, taking a 2–0 lead in the 3rd inning, then extending that lead to 3–0 in the top of the 7th. As the Dodgers have gained momentum, the San Diego Padres found a spark that nobody could’ve ever predicted and went on to score five stragith runs in the bottom of the 7th. The Padres would carry this heavy momentum swing for the rest of the game to close the door on the Dodgers’ historic season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were coming off their winningest season in the franchise’s rich history with 111 wins. On top of that, losing against their rivals down the street in the San Diego Padres in their house when they haven’t had a playoff game in their stadium in a quarter century makes this one of the most brutal endings to a season in MLB history.
The San Diego Padres have had an up-and-down season to say the least. They went into the all-star break with a 52–42 record. They lost Fernando Tatis Jr. on an 80-game suspension for PEDs. They acquired Washington Nationals’ star outfielder Juan Soto and went on a slump for a good amount of time. Despite all of this, the team managed to finish their season with a 89–73 record, beat the 101- win New York Mets in the wild card in three games, then went on to beat their 111-win rival Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to advance to their first NLCS in 24 years.
The San Diego Padres’ record against the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2013 is 97–49. This team was able to define all odds in back-to-back series against arguably the top two teams in the MLB. What seemed like an impossible feat turned out to be a historic night that will be remembered by not just San Diego Padres fans, but the whole MLB world.
