ESPN LA Radio host gives huge Padres endorsement if Dodgers fail in playoffs

San Diego Padres fans are well aware of how much the media in southern California is biased towards the Dodgers. Most of the time, it is cringeworthy how much columnists and radio hosts shill for LA no matter what else is going on with other teams in the area. For too many of them, only Dodgers baseball matters and they put their blinders on for any other team unless they have no other choice.

However, this Padres team has made a lot of headway in changing that narrative this year. It certainly helps that San Diego has largely dominated the head-to-head matchup between the two teams in 2024 and have mounted a clear challenge to the Dodgers' NL West dominance, but the Padres are also an objectively good and exciting team to watch right now, and more and more people are finally taking notice.

One LA radio host, ESPN Radio's Steve Mason, went a step further and said that if the Dodgers don't win the World Series this year, he thinks the Padres will hoist the trophy.

ESPN LA radio host thinks the Padres are Dodgers' chief competition for the World Series title

First off, a hat tip to Mason for calling a spade a spade here. While the Phillies have had a strong 2024 season and there are some interesting teams still in the mix in the wild card race, recognizing how good and dangerous the Padres are deserves some props. It is apparently hard for anyone from LA to think about any team other than theirs, yet Mason managed to pull it off and made some smart points along the way.

To be blunt, the Dodgers should be scared of the Padres, and anyone suggesting otherwise is lying to themselves. The Padres match up very well with the Dodgers and their roster is certainly deeper than LA's right now. Yes, guys like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman are capable of winning games by themselves, but the Dodgers roster has some real problems whereas San Diego has impressive depth and plenty of star power heading into the playoffs.

But no need to get ahead of ourselves. The Padres need to get past the abbreviated NL Wild Card round before the Dodgers will be in play. However, it is still nice to see that LA sports talking heads can partially put their fandom aside and recognize a real threat when they see it.

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