The Dodgers and Padres are among MLB's top World Series contenders, and it feels like the postseason each time the rivals meet.

A long-simmering National League West rivalry is renewed Friday night in Los Angeles, as the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants open a three-game series with the top spot in the division on the line.

Dodgers’ Will Smith Dismisses Padres Rivalry With Blunt Comment originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Eight months after squaring off in the 2024 NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres finally met again.

The NL West rivalry returns with full force as the Los Angeles Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium this Friday. With both teams neck-and-neck in the standings – Dodgers at 41-28 and Giants right behind at 40-28 – this opener could set the tone for a division-shifting weekend.

Starting Friday night, the Giants will start a three-game set with the Dodgers, with first place in the National League West on the line. Yes, we’re not even halfway through the baseball season — have you even put in an All-Star ballot yet? — but did anyone expect the Giants to be in such a position last October? What about in January?

Play to the Under for tonight's MLB pick and prediction in a NL West series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers and Padres have shared a division -- and Southern California proximity -- for more than five decades. For most of that time, it's been hard to call this a "rivalry" (whatever that word means,

Still, on Monday, the Padres came within a close call or two of moving into a virtual tie atop the NL West. The Dodgers remain the class of the division and, until proven otherwise, the entire league. And for now, the team that nearly ousted them last October doesn’t appear to be going away.

Andy Pages and Tommy Edman each drive in runs to lift the Dodgers to an 8-7 win over the Padres in the first meeting of the season in the fast-growing rivalry.

Saturday: 4:15 p.m. (FOX) Sunday: 1:10 p.m. (Padres.TV) In the standings San Diego Padres (38-29, 3rd in NL West) The Padres dropped two of three to the Dodgers at Petco Park to start the week and are now two games behind LA and one game behind the second-place Giants.