Dodgers just keep flexing dominance over “little brother” Padres

Aug 7, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Hanser Alberto (17) celebrates and San Diego Padres right fielder Juan Soto (22) lowers his head after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the San Diego Padres during ninth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 7, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Hanser Alberto (17) celebrates and San Diego Padres right fielder Juan Soto (22) lowers his head after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the San Diego Padres during ninth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Padres seemingly made all of the right moves at the MLB trade deadline, but the Los Angeles Dodgers sent a reminder over the weekend that, even with the Padres adding some new faces into the lineup, the Dodgers still rule the I-5 rivalry.

A weekend sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers just added to their recent dominance over the San Diego Padres

With a shutout win on Sunday Night Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers further cemented their place atop the National League West with a sweep of the new-look Padres, pushing San Diego 15.5 games behind Los Angeles in the division. In fact, with those losses, the Padres are now closer to the bottom of the division (ahead of last-place Colorado by 13.0 games) than they are the top.

This season, Los Angeles is 8-2 against the Padres, with the two teams scheduled to meet nine times in September (including six games at San Diego’s Petco Park).

Los Angeles has outscored the Padres 55-18 in their 10 meetings this season, adding to what has been a lopsided affair any time the teams have met up since last year, with the Dodgers going 20-9 against San Diego in that stretch, including winning 17 of the last 19 meetings.

San Diego fans will have to go all the way back to the 2010 season to find a time when their team won a season series against L.A. (beating them in 10 out of 18 games that season). Since then, it’s been all Dodgers, with L.A. posting a 138-70 mark against San Diego, including a 74-33 record (.692 winning percentage) at Chavez Ravine.

If the National League postseason runs through L.A. (a possibility with the Dodgers currently holding the best record in all of baseball), San Diego will have to figure out a way to win there on a consistent basis, something the franchise hasn’t been able to do for years.

This article from The San Diego Union-Tribune in 2015 called the Padres “the Dodgers’ little brother.” Even with all of the new faces and changes over the years, the “little brother” tag certainly seems to still apply in San Diego, a franchise desperately trying to figure out how to escape their I-5 big brother’s shadow.