While it may not last long, the San Diego Padres took sole possession of first place in the NL West today with a dominant 11-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants to complete the series sweep.
That puts immense pressure on the Los Angeles Dodgers—whose game is just about to start—ahead of a highly-anticipated matchup against their NL West rivals that begins Friday at Dodger Stadium. But it doesn’t stop there, as the Padres will face Los Angeles again from Aug. 22-24 in San Diego.
Just six weeks ago, the Dodgers held a nine-game division lead over San Diego. The Padres have gone 23-12 since then—as noted by MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell—and they shook up the roster when General Manager A.J. Preller made five deals involving 22 players on Trade Deadline Day.
Now the best Los Angeles can do is win tonight to share the division lead with San Diego heading into Friday. And if the Padres look anything like they did today, Dodger Stadium is sure to be uneasy this weekend.
San Diego led 7-0 by the second inning and smashed 14 hits en route to its 11-1 victory. The Padres pitching staff was equally brilliant, holding San Francisco to three runs throughout the entire series.
While the Dodgers are 5-2 against San Diego this season, all those games came in June. This marks the latest point in a season since Sept. 25, 2010, that the Padres have held at least a share of first place, per Cassavell.
With 41 games left in the Padres season, maybe they can achieve another rare feat—winning the division crown for the first time in 19 years. They’ll have to get past the Dodgers to do it.
