SAN DIEGO — Six weeks ago, after returning home from a frustrating road trip, the Padres awoke on the fringes of wild-card contention. They were 46-40. Their odds of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs, were at a little more than 40 percent. The site’s projections gave them less than a 1 percent shot of winning the National League West.

That owed to the continued dominance of their chief rivals.

That night, the Los Angeles Dodgers finished off a seventh consecutive winning series and moved to a season-high 24 games above .500. They appeared to be cruising toward a 12th division crown in 13 years. Despite a slew of injuries, their World Series title defense was more or less going according to plan.

The Padres have since won 23 of 35 games. The Dodgers have lost 21 of 33 — and n

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