Padres Powerhouse: Why Must the Dodgers Ruin All Our Fun?
The San Diego Padres made the two splashiest moves of the MLB offseason on back-to-back days, acquiring former Cy Young winner Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays and 2020 NL Cy Young finalist Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs. Just when we thought the Padres couldn't get any more fun, A.J. Preller and the front office put them in a position to be even more flashy and successful in 2021. The only thing standing in their way? A potentially dynastic Los Angeles Dodgers team holding down the fort atop the division.
Padres mood rnpic.twitter.com/1XBRvunJr2-- Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan)December 29, 2020
Padres mood rnpic.twitter.com/1XBRvunJr2
Based on last year and how this offseason has shaped up, the Padres are a budding "America's Team" of sorts, the kind of team that a lot of fans will adopt as their "second" team or casual fans may claim as their own. But the Dodgers are ruining all our fun because barring major injuries, it's likely the Padres will face an absolute crapshoot in the playoffs every year.
Unless the Padres take a huge step and actually take the Dodgers out in the division, they will have to play a one-game playoff followed by a five-game series likely with the Dodgers in the NLDS. That doesn't seem like a recipe for success for a young team trying to get a taste of playoff victory.
Of course, beyond 2021 when the team gets Mike Clevinger back, that rotation could potentially pose a real threat to the power structure of the NL West. At this point, that 2022 rotation would be Blake Snell, Mike Clevinger, Yu Darvish, Dinelson Lamet, Chris Paddack. There is not a weak link among those five. Add in another year of development for Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, and Trent Grisham and it's not impossible to see San Diego seriously threatening for the NL West crown. But let's not forget the Dodgers have an embarrassment of riches of their own.
On top of finally winning it all, they have one of the game's best farm systems and won't lose significant pieces this offseason. Justin Turner may depart, but that is not enough to topple them from their perch. Should they lose Corey Seager to free agency next offseason, then maybe we're having a serious discussion headed into 2022 about who the best team in the division is.
For now, though, the experience, and now championship pedigree, of the Dodgers makes them the superior team to the Padres who justifiably come with a lot of hype, but are still short on serious October experience. Hopefully, we see the situation deliver us a great, new rivalry between the two teams that play their home games just a couple hours drive away from one another. If MLB sticks with the eight-team playoff format, the Padres could avoid playing in a one-game playoff every year, but they would still likely face the Dodgers in the NLDS (No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed), an unenviable position to be sure.
Maybe having an exciting team to root on as an "underdog" against the big, bad Dodgers will be a lot of fun. As long as the division race is close, it will make for some compelling late-season matchups between the pair of teams. But if people are expecting their "second" team, or whatever you want to call the Padres, to win the Fall Classic in the near future, they may want to temper expectations.
While it's certainly possible San Diego will make a run at a championship over the next several years, having to play in the same division as the Dodgers is a travesty as it will make the road to a title much tougher for them than teams who play in the weaker NL Central and East divisions.