SAN DIEGO — There was a time early in his tenure as Dodgers manager when Dave Roberts dismissed the idea of the San Diego Padres being the Dodgers’ rival, saying historically that label applied to the San Francisco Giants.
Times have changed.
“I think it’s become a rivalry because the stakes have been higher, which we’ve seen in the last few years,” Roberts said as this week’s series at Petco Park was set to begin.
“I just have a hard time believing something could be a rivalry when there’s no stakes. And I think that with the talent that they’ve accrued, and the way they’ve played over the last few years, the stakes have gotten higher. And that’s a compliment to the organization, to those guys. And I can see that now.”
The stakes have indeed increased. The Dodgers and Padres have met in the postseason three times in the past five seasons, including last year’s National League Division Series, when the Padres had the Dodgers down two games to one before the Dodgers held the Padres scoreless for the final 24 innings and went on to win the World Series.
This season, the teams didn’t meet until now. But the Dodgers will play the Padres seven times in the next 10 games with three against the Giants mixed in. The 10-game rivalry stretch starts with the Padres and Giants each one game behind the Dodgers in the National League West.
“The scheduling – thank goodness I don’t have to deal with it,” Roberts said of the oddity of not facing either rival until mid-June then facing them 10 games in a row.
“I think knowing we’re going to be facing some really good opponents, playing some pretty good baseball, try to win as many as we can. I think the goal is certainly to come out of this in first place.”
GONSOLIN RELIEVED
The 18 months of rehab following Tommy John surgery were fresh in Tony Gonsolin’s mind when his arm felt “super ache-y” the day after his start against the New York Mets last week.
“I definitely thought there was a chance (the ulnar collateral ligament was damaged again),” Gonsolin said. “It definitely felt different than two years ago. I would say I’m probably having more pain now than two years ago, mostly because my UCL was fully torn (in 2023) so it didn’t really hurt.
“I think the fact that it was so achey, I thought there might be a little tear in it. But there wasn’t.”
Gonsolin underwent an MRI in St. Louis that showed the UCL was intact – a great relief to him.
“It’s definitely a relief that it’s not surgery right this second,” Gonsolin said. “Hopefully it’s going to get better and once it gets better and once I can jump back into throwing and it’ll continue to improve and just get stronger. It definitely is a relief that the UCL is still good and I don’t have to go through 18 months of rehab again.”
Gonsolin has been shut down from throwing indefinitely. The right-hander said he doesn’t know how long it will be before he picks up a ball again. At some point after he is pain-free, he will be re-evaluated.
In the meantime, he will watch the Dodgers’ depleted starting rotation limp on without him.
“Ultimately, how I’m feeling I feel like I’m letting the team down and those are innings I should be eating up,” Gonsolin said. “It’s baseball. Injuries happen. It just really sucks. I’m very frustrated. After all the time I spent strengthening it, going through all that. Then to have my back (landing him on the injured list to start the season) and now this. I’m just very frustrated with where my body is at and that it’s not holding together as of right now.
“Just trying to get through it. Hopefully this isn’t too long and I’ll come back strong and finish even stronger through the playoffs.”
SNELL ’PEN
Left-hander Blake Snell joined the Dodgers in San Diego for the series against the Padres and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday. It will be his first since April when he received a cortisone injection in his shoulder.
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow is also scheduled to throw a bullpen session in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He is not with the team in San Diego.
Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to throw to hitters in a live batting practice session on Tuesday as well.
Roki Sasaki has not progressed to throwing off a mound yet.
COMING SOON
Right-hander Emmet Sheehan has thrown eight innings in three rehab starts, two with Triple-A Oklahoma City and one in the Arizona Complex League. But Roberts raised the possibility that one more rehab start could be enough for the Dodgers to consider activating Sheehan from IL.
“He’s coming,” Roberts said. “He was three-plus (innings) a few days ago (Saturday in Triple-A). So he’s gonna go this week. And the plan is to get him through four innings. So if he can do that, then he’s sort of going to be a viable conversation.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (TBA) at Padres (RHP Dylan Cease, 1-5, 4.72 ERA), Tuesday, 6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM