The Dodgers look for redemption in the NLDS rematch with the San Diego Padres

The quote was so apt that Major League Baseball used it on social media to promote the Southern California showdown in this year's National League Division Series.

“This,” said San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, “is what everyone wanted to see.”

It turns out the Dodgers are trapped.

“I wanted San Diego,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Just because of the adrenaline and the intensity, just because of the history of these two teams. I think this is the best scenario for us. And not just us, but the entire baseball world.”

“It feels like we're on a collision course,” added President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. “It’s going to be really good baseball.”

While the Atlanta Braves represented a likely easier NLDS matchup for the top-seeded Dodgers, it was a rematch with the Padres, who defeated the Braves in their wild-card series this week, setting up an intra-divisional duel starting with Game 1 on Saturday at Dodger Stadium – brings a unique opportunity.

It is the team the Dodgers have struggled with the most this season, losing eight of 13 meetings despite still winning the NL West Division.

It's the club that eliminated the Dodgers in the same round two Octobers ago, a result that reopens questions about the franchise's recent postseason failures.

It's also an opponent that — in a potentially beneficial dynamic for manager Dave Roberts and his staff — should have the Dodgers' full attention.

“We know they will bring a lot of energy,” said utility Chris Taylor. “That’s how they always play us. And from that perspective, I think we understand that we also have to bring the energy to a certain extent. We understand that they will give us everything they have. And they are a really good team too. So we have to play our best baseball.”

Two years ago, in the teams' last NLDS meeting, it almost seemed as if the Dodgers would look past the Padres. They had finished 22 games ahead of San Diego in the standings. They had dominated the rivalry in the regular season that year. And hoping to win their second World Series in three years, there didn't seem to be much concern about a possible early exit.

Then, in a whirlwind four-game stretch, the Padres played with more energy, better execution and, as some Dodgers personnel put it after their surprising loss, an undeniably higher intensity.

“As a manager, you never want to say that someone wants it more than you, because I think that speaks to the preparation part of it, the mental part of it,” Roberts said following the 2022 postseason. “But I have to say if If you look at this dugout compared to our dugout, there was more intensity.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (left) talks to pitcher Clayton Kershaw during a practice at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Roberts brought up the latter point again last week, citing it as a factor in the Dodgers' struggles against the Padres in their first three meetings earlier this season (when they lost seven of their first 10 straight games).

“I think it's pretty easy to see that when we played them, they came out more intense than we did,” Roberts said before the clubs' crucial series at Chavez Ravine. “And that has to change.”

It changed. Despite their game-losing triple play in the opening game of last week's meeting, the Dodgers rallied to win two straight games against the red-hot Padres, securing an 11th division title in their first and only series in the last 12 years Winning against San Diego all season.

That result allowed the Dodgers to rest this week while the Padres had to play a wild-card series at home against the Braves. And on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dodgers players gathered in the Dodger Stadium dugout for team-wide watch parties to see who they would face in the NLDS — another possible signal that the Dodgers are refocused this October.

“I think that was a focus, trying to stick together as a team over this stretch,” Taylor said, comparing it to the camaraderie the team built during its 2020 World Series run in a COVID-isolated bubble. “I know the boys have talked about how we felt very close in the bubble. We were kind of forced into this environment. So (we're) trying to replicate that a little bit…not use this layoff like a vacation.”

This week, the Dodgers said they weren't necessarily rooting for any particular opponent (reliever Evan Phillips joked that he just wanted to see maximum chaos, like three games of 15 innings each).

But they certainly didn't seem disappointed that the Padres advanced.

“I can’t say no,” Phillips said when asked if the 2022 postseason will add additional weight to this year’s rematch. “Obviously the postseason matchup a few years ago makes it a little bigger for us. This time we definitely want to get her back.”

The Padres present big challenges. They had the best record in the majors in the second half, going from 50-50 to 93-69. They have a strong rotation, even after losing Joe Musgrove to an elbow injury on Wednesday, and boast perhaps the best bullpen in baseball.

They're also led by Chavez Ravine's former Dodger villain Machado, who, like many Padres players over the years, has seemed particularly motivated to recapture the rivalry traditionally dominated by the Dodgers.

“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday night as he faced the 98-win Dodgers. “It will be a wonderful series. We’re really excited about it.”

Unlike two years ago, the Dodgers' anticipation appears to be the same.

“My reaction was this is going to be a good fight,” said shortstop Miguel Rojas, who dyed his hair white in early October. “Two teams that played really good baseball started the year together in Korea. It's been back and forth throughout the year. We know each other really well and I think it’s going to be a really good series for baseball and the entire sports world.”