The San Diego Padres head to Los Angeles to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time since they acquired Juan Soto at the trade deadline. They also added Brandon Drury, Josh Bell, and Josh Hader to significantly bolster their team. But will it be enough to finally take down their big brother in the Dodgers?
The Padres made headlines at the trade deadline for making probably the biggest trade in MLB history, and that’s not an exaggeration. They traded Mackenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassel III, James Wood, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit. That includes three former or current #1 prospects of the Padres. They also acquired Josh Hader to fill in for Taylor Rogers as the closer who was traded to the Brewers. They also acquired Brandon Drury from the Reds and he could prove to be a key utility player. Fernando Tatis Jr. is still injured though, so will the Padres have enough firepower to win at Dodger Stadium?
Tony Gonsolin will be starting for the Dodgers, and he has started to show some cracks lately. He allowed three earned runs in five innings pitched in his last outing and four earned runs in six innings in his start before that. He is still 4-1 with a 3.92 ERA in his last seven starts though and he only allowed one run in 7.2 innings pitched in his only start against the Padres, although this is a different lineup. Sean Manaea has been struggling even more lately though as he had a 5.40 ERA in July. He did pitch three quality starts but when he is bad, he is really bad. He also allowed six earned runs to the Dodgers the first time he faced them this season.
The Dodgers are the second-best team in the league in wOBA against lefties in the past 30 days, and they have dominated this matchup lately. They are 5-2 against the Padres this season but 10-4 in their last 14 home games and they have won 14 of the last 16 games between these teams overall. The Dodgers bullpen is a bit worked so that worries me a little bit, but they have plenty of depth and will not hesitate to use their best relievers.
I think the Dodgers come out and show the Padres that they are still the big brother of the relationship.
John's BOTD: Dodgers ML (-160) vs. Padres
