Padres’ regular season struggles vs Dodgers may be the spark they need for October

The stage is set at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers will clash one last time in the regular season, and while the season series is already lost, the implications are bigger than a simple head-to-head tally.

The Padres have dropped 8 of their 10 meetings with the Dodgers this year. By any measure, Los Angeles has had their number. And yet, that’s not the storyline that should have Padres fans deflated. What matters now is positioning. With San Diego sitting just one game back in the NL West, this weekend’s three-game set is a golden opportunity. The Dodgers are the only thing standing between the Padres and the chance to leapfrog into first place.

Padres’ struggles vs Dodgers might be the fuel they need for October

The real kicker here is history suggests these struggles might actually be good news for the Padres when it comes to October.

This rivalry has a knack for writing bizarre, dramatic scripts. In 2022, the Padres stumbled badly in the regular season, losing 14 of 19 to Los Angeles. Nobody gave them a shot when the postseason rolled around until they stunned the baseball world by beating the Dodgers 3–1 in the NLDS. Then came 2024, when the Padres flipped the narrative, winning the regular season series 8–5 and looking like they finally had the Dodgers figured out. But October had other plans, with the Dodgers getting the last laugh in a 3–2 playoff victory.

Fast forward to 2025, and here we are again. The Padres have once more lost the regular season series to Los Angeles. If the pattern holds, Padres fans have every reason to believe this could be another setup for an October reversal.

This weekend isn’t just about standings, it’s about setting the tone. Can Ryan O’Hearn stay hot? Will the starting pitching hold? Make no mistake: nothing would light a bigger fire than sending the Dodgers home with a couple L’s to close out the regular-season rivalry.

For the Padres, this series is less about salvaging pride and more about planting a seed of doubt in their biggest rival. Beat them now, or even just push them to the brink, and the Dodgers will know October won’t be a cakewalk. Lose again? History says it might not matter and the Padres could be setting themselves up for the ultimate revenge tour.

One way or another, Dodgers-Padres always delivers drama. And starting this weekend in San Diego, fans might just get their first taste of how the next chapter of this rivalry is going to be written.

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