Dodgers have nothing to fear in the division rival Padres

The San Diego Padres are good, but the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t fear them.

The Los Angeles Dodgers should have no fear of the San Diego Padres this postseason.

At this juncture, we expect both NL West teams to qualify. While the Dodgers have won the NL West seven years in a row, the Padres haven’t reached the postseason since 2006. As two of the three teams in the NL with at least 20 wins already, any postseason picture without both of these clubs firmly in it is one not worth discussing. However, it’s the Dodgers’ year and we know it is.

Ample postseason experience is why the Dodgers shouldn’t fear the Padres.

Because the Dodgers haven’t clinched the NL West for the eighth season in a row, look for the Boys in Blue to continue to grind until that dream is realized. Though the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs are giving off vibes of division winners as well, neither club is in position to realistically catch the Dodgers for the best record in the NL, barring an unforeseen collapse.

At this time, the Dodgers will likely end up with the No. 1 seed in the NL postseason pictures, while the Braves and the Cubs are poised to end up the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in some order. Of course, a sub-.500 team in either the NL East or NL Central could catch fire in August and usurp Atlanta and Chicago atop their respective divisional standings. But that doesn’t help the Padres.

Unless the Padres refuse to lose in August, the best the Friars can do is the No. 4 seed in the NL postseason picture and would face the Dodgers in the NLDS should they advance from the Wild Card round. As you may understand, seeding is everything here. It is something that is both an advantage and a disadvantage for a team like the Padres.

If the season were to end today, which let’s hope it does not, the top-seeded Dodgers would face the No. 8-seed Philadelphia Phillies in the three-game Wild Card Round. The No. 4-seeded Padres would face the No. 5-seed Miami Marlins. The No. 2-seeded Cubs would face the No. 7-seeded Colorado Rockies and the No. 3-seeded Braves would face the No. 6-seeded St. Louis Cardinals.

While it is expected for the postseason to be played in a bubble, very likely in Texas for the Senior Circuit, the Padres will have to grind vs. a feisty Marlins team in either Arlington or Houston. Despite the Fish and the Phillies having the same record now, that won’t be the case at the end of September. An easier first-round series serves the Dodgers than a challenging one for the Padres.

And though all 16 teams will have to play in the Wild Card round this year, ample postseason experience is what will inevitably serve the Padres. That’s not to say San Diego will be happy just to be there, but it’s been a long time since 2006. Then again, it’s been a very, very long time since 1988, the last time the Dodgers won a World Series. It’s the only thing that matters for them.

Assuming chalk holds up, the Dodgers would face the Padres in a best-of-five NLDS with an NLCS berth on the line. After screwing it up last season vs. the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals, the Dodgers know that have no excuse to come up deplorably short of winning a Fall Classic again. Just getting to the World Series may not be enough for them this year.

What the Padres are going to find out is the postseason is different. You can look at other strong teams around baseball like the Braves and the Minnesota Twins and they’ll tell you, “oh yeah, it’s different.” Atlanta hasn’t advanced in the postseason since 2001. The Twins cannot get past the New York Yankees for the life of them in October. Are the Padres more like them or not?

See, that’s the peculiar angle here. Every so often, there will be a team who has no business of winning a postseason series and the end up in the World Series. The 2003 Marlins won it all and the 2014 Kansas City Royals came up one game short of the San Francisco Giants, only to win it all next year. Keep in mind both of those pennant-winning clubs did so as Wild Card teams.

Until the Dodgers are down 0-2 in a best-of-five series, they have no reason to fear the Padres.