Padres Face Dodgers in Game 1 of NLDS
“Let’s see who’s better this time.”
The twenty-one-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. sounded rather confident during the pregame interview in Arlington, TX yesterday. His epic bat flips after two homers last week provide evidence that he can walk the walk too.
But the real question is can the San Diego Padres get past the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series? Considering they must do what they have only done once in the last 13 contests against LA, (yes, they’ve at least won one series) the odds are low. The Padres’ 4-6 record against them this year is the best it has been since the Dodgers’ long and dominant reign of NL West division began in 2013. Since then, the Dodgers are 94-49 against San Diego.
However, Comeback Kids and Rally Cap Warriors make up this team. They can do it–they’ve done it all season long.
San Diego announced that Mike Clevinger, otherwise known as “Sunshine”, will make the Game 1 start versus Dodgers’ ace Walker Buehler. Unfortunately, they’ll be without their best pitcher, Dinelson Lamet. Many people may wonder how San Diego’s pitching is this questionable heading into one of the franchise’s biggest matchups in history. But let’s all remember–pitching has never been San Diego’s strong suit. It may have kept the Padres afloat every game, but it’s their offense that carried them here.
The Dodgers are in familiar territory. They know the feeling of playing in an NLDS all too well. But they’re also familiar with losing once they get there. Even though they’re picked by analysts as the number one team nearly every pre-season and regarded as the best team in baseball year after year, they have a hard time turning their success into postseason hardware.
But the Padres? They haven’t stepped foot here since 2006. Some doubted they’d even get past the Wild Card Series. Maybe this rare familiarity proves to be too much pressure for this young team. Or maybe, they’ll do what they’ve done all season long. Win the unexpected.
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