The Dodgers–Padres rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) National League division rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers and Padres are both members of the National League (NL) West Division. It is occasionally called the I-5 rivalry because Los Angeles and San Diego lie approximately 120 miles apart along Interstate 5.
Background The rise of Southern California as a major region of the United States brought about a significant economic rivalry between neighboring Los Angeles and San Diego. Through the years, San Diego proved to be an unstable home to its sports franchises as the NFL's Chargers and NBA's Clippers both relocated to Los Angeles. The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers have been rivals ever since the Padres joined the National League West Division. The Dodgers have traditionally been the much more successful team in this rivalry, though most of the animosity in the rivalry is directed against LA by fans of San Diego. This is showcased by Padres fans and the organization embracing the "Beat LA" chant. Dodgers fans have often said that they do not view the Padres as a true rival, reserving that honor for the San Francisco Giants. However, this view of the rivalry has likely changed following the Padres' aggressive roster moves since 2020.
In the 2020s, both the Dodgers and Padres had bolstered their rosters in their quests for a playoff run, especially the Padres, who had not been serious contenders for a decade. The Dodgers swept the Padres in the NLDS, while the Padres returned the favor by knocking the Dodgers out of the 2022 NLDS. 2024 saw the teams match-up in their third postseason meeting, with the Dodgers coming back from a 2–1 series deficit in the NLDS to defeat the Padres in five games. The Dodgers won World Series both after eliminating the Padres in and .
As of the season, the Dodgers currently lead the rivalry 532–431–1 in the regular season and 7–5 in postseason play. Additionally, the Dodgers have won 5 World Series Championships since the Padres came into existence in 1969. The Padres are still yet to win a title, coming closest in and (losing 4 games to 1 against the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and being swept by the New York Yankees in 1998). Since 1969, the Dodgers also lead in National League Pennants (10 vs. 2 in that time) and Divisional titles (23 vs. 5).
History 1960s The first meeting between the two teams occurred during the seventh game of the 1969 season at Dodger Stadium on April 15, 1969. In the beginning, it seemed like it could be a pitchers’ duel. With Johnny Podres on the mound for the Padres, facing his old team in his final season in the majors, and Claude Osteen for the Dodgers, the first four innings passed quickly and uneventfully. But things fell apart for the Padres in the bottom of the fifth inning: A groundout gave way to a walk, three consecutive singles, and yet another walk, before Andy Kosco hit a grand slam that put the Dodgers ahead 6–0. Afterwards, Osteen limited the Padres to only three hits, the Dodger lineup piled eight more runs with the final score being 14–0. It was the Padres’ fourth consecutive loss after beginning their existence with a sweep of the Houston Astros before getting swept by the San Francisco Giants. The next day, they piled another nine runs on the Padres, who only mustered a lone run in response. The Padres finished their inaugural season with a 52–110 record and did not have a winning season for nearly a decade.
1970s The Padres' fortunes began to shift near the end of the 1970s as they had their first winning season in 1978, though they failed to qualify for the postseason as the Dodgers won the division en route to a World Series appearance. Despite the lone winning season in 1978, the Padres' only successes were two seasons at .500 in 1982 and 1983, while the Dodgers had three World Series appearances during the 1970s, in , , and (losing in all three).
1980s The Padres broke through with an appearance in their first World Series in , but they fell to the Detroit Tigers in five games. The Dodgers, meanwhile, won a pair of championships in and . In 1988, Orel Hershiser broke Don Drysdale's scoreless inning streak against the Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium. For the Padres, the 1980s saw the debut of the best player in franchise history, Tony Gwynn.
1990s The Dodgers teams soon waned in competition through the 1990s, only winning the division in 1994 (unofficially, because the end of the regular season and the World Series were canceled) and 1995. In 1995, the Dodgers appeared in the NLDS but were swept by the Reds. Meanwhile, the fortunes had alternated in favor of the Padres during the 1996 season. After trailing the Dodgers by two games heading into the final series of the season against them, the Padres recorded a three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium to win the division crown, winning the first and last game in extra-innings. It would be Chris Gwynn, the brother of Tony and a former Dodger player, who delivered the game-winning runs that won the Padres their first NL West crown since 1984 in the final game of the series. The high for San Diego was short-lived, as they were quickly dispatched by the Cardinals in the NLDS. The Dodgers still made the postseason as a wild card team, but were also swept by the Braves in the NLDS. It was the closest the two teams had come to a potential playoff series, a series that wouldn't come until . In addition, the 1996 National League West race was one of the few times the rivals finished 1–2 finish in the NL West standings; this feat wouldn't happen again until the season.
In 1998, the Padres had their most wins in franchise history with 98, won the NL West again, and won the National League pennant for the first time since 1984, but had the misfortunate of facing the 114-win New York Yankees in the World Series. As a result, they were swept in four games. To date, 1998 represents San Diego's last World Series appearance.
2000s
Both franchises enjoyed success and encountered problems in the 2000s.
In particular, the NL West race was the closest race ever between the two rivals, playing in perhaps their most memorable series of the rival thus far in September 2006. Coming into the a four-game series in the middle of September, Los Angeles held a half game lead in the N.L. West over San Diego with two and a half weeks left in the season. Los Angeles won the first game of the series 3–1 after a strong pitching performance by Maddux, extending the Dodgers' lead to a 1½ games over San Diego. The second game of the series was an 11–2 rout in favor of San Diego, trimming the Dodgers lead back to a half game. The third game of the series was a pitchers' duel between San Diego's Chris Young and the Dodgers Derek Lowe. San Diego scored first after Russell Branyan hit a solo home run to make it 1–0. Russell Martin tied the game at 1–1 with a solo home run of his own in the 7th. But San Diego won the game 2–1 when Khalil Greene scored on Terrmel Sledge's single. San Diego's victory gave them a half game lead over the Dodgers in the N.L. West.
4+1 Game The last game of the series on September 18 was a rocky start for the Dodgers. Brad Penny gave up four runs in the first inning, giving San Diego a 4-0 lead. Los Angeles slowly climbed back into the game, and tied the score 4-4 in the third inning. Neither team scored again until San Diego scored two in the top of the 8th to take a 6-4 lead. The Dodgers would cut San Diego's lead to one run after Wilson Betemit drove in Marlon Anderson with an RBI single. San Diego scored three runs in the top of the 9th and appeared to have broken the game wide open with a 9-5 lead. With a four-run lead, San Diego elected to bring in Jon Adkins to pitch the 9th instead of closer Trevor Hoffman, who at the time was just three saves shy of tying the all-time record. Jeff Kent and J. D. Drew hit back-to-back home runs off of Adkins to close the lead to 9–7 with nobody out. San Diego then elected to bring Hoffman in to finish the game. Hoffman however, gave up back-to-back home runs to Martin and Anderson on the first two pitches Hoffman threw, tying the score at 9–9. It was only the fourth time a team hit four consecutive home runs in an inning, and the first time since the Minnesota Twins did so in 1964. San Diego scored a run in the top of the 10th on Josh Bard's RBI single to take a 10–9 lead. However, after Kenny Lofton walked, Nomar Garciaparra hit the game-winning two-run walk off home run. The Dodgers' 11–10 victory gave them a half game lead over San Diego with just two weeks left in the season.
Despite being one of the Dodgers' most dramatic and memorable moments in recent history, the come-from-behind victory was rendered mostly moot as San Diego would make up the half game deficit, finishing with the NL West crown due to their 13–5 record against the Los Angeles Dodgers throughout the season. Subsequently, the Dodgers secured the wild card spot as the NL's best non-division winning team in 2006; nonetheless, both teams were swept in the NLDS, preventing their first playoff match-up.
The Dodgers won the division three times in the decade (2004, 2008, 2009), to go along with the wildcard spot in 2006. However, the Frank McCourt–led ownership proved to be largely flawed as the Dodgers often boasted immensely talented rosters filled with young talent, but constantly fell short of a World Series appearance. The Padres had back-to-back division wins in 2005 and aforementioned 2006, but fell to the St. Louis Cardinals both times in the NLDS. Notably, the rivals were the only two teams to play spring training in China as a part of the MLB China Series in 2008. Additionally, the Padres moved into Petco Park, their own stadium for the first time, in 2004.
2010s saw the Padres lead the NL West for much of the season before losing their lead in mid-September to the eventual World champion San Francisco Giants. San Diego rallied back to tie the San Francisco in the last series of the regular season; however, they lost the last game, thus giving the Giants the NL West crown. They did not seriously compete again in the NL West or for a postseason spot for the rest of the decade.
In 2012, both franchises saw changes in ownership. Before the start of the season, the Guggenheim Partners bought the Dodgers for $2.15 billion, the most expensive sale for an MLB franchise at the time. Later that year, Peter O'Malley and Ron Fowler formed the O'Malley Group, which purchased MLB's San Diego Padres from John Moores for $800 million. This was of significance to the Dodgers–Padres rivalry due to O'Malley family involvement, who owned the Dodgers from 1944–1998.
In 2016, both teams met for the league season opener. Both teams began the season with new managers, including Dave Roberts, the former Padres manager who had signed with the Dodgers during the offseason. The Dodgers won 15–0. The Dodgers made two World Series appearances, in and , but controversially fell in to the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, respectively, with the 2017 Series in particular later being marred in a sign-stealing scandal. The Dodgers won the NL West division for a seven-year stretch from 2013 to 2020 while the Padres failed to make the postseason since 2006.
2020s The 2020 season was limited to 60 games by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Padres returned to the original brown, gold, and white uniform colors after using navy blue as the predominant color since 1991, solidifying the contrast of the Dodgers’ blue, white, and red uniform colors. The Dodgers won the division title while the Padres finished in second. The two teams met in the Division Series, played in Arlington, Texas, under COVID-19 contingencies.
2020 NLDS