Forty games remain in the regular season, with the Dodgers and Padres tied atop the National League West. Saturday’s game at Dodger Stadium features a matchup of starting pitchers who have dabbled in excellence and share many similarities.

This is Blake Snell’s 10th major league season, and he’s reached 130 innings twice. Both times (2018 with the Rays, 2023 with the Padres) he won the Cy Young Award. Dylan Cease finished second in Cy Young voting in 2022 with the White Sox, and was fourth last year with the Padres.

Both pitchers strike out a ton — Snell’s career strikeout rate is 30.1 percent, Cease at 28.7 percent — and both walk a lot (10.9 percent for Snell, 9.9 percent for Cease). Cease has been more available to pitch than Snell. Since the start of 2020, with Cease entrenched in th

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