Back in my day, the only Dodgers rival was to the north. San Francisco (beautiful city that it is) was distinctly enemy territory. I still get a little twitchy when I see black and orange together.

So, I begrudgingly admit that the tides have turned southward. When the Padres-Dodgers rivalry really started heating up, I was still in denial—San Diego who? But it feels like the Padres wanted a rivalry, so a rivalry they got.

How did it all happen so fast? Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times points to the very contrasting styles of each team. The Padres are the underdogs in a smaller market, but pack a punch when it comes to big names and big emotions. Signing Manny Machado in 2019 probably helped spark that.

“A lot of people over the last few years have been very patient as we’ve tried t

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