The Dodgers rolled into city on Tuesday with a 16-6 document as a result of, in fact, they did. They had been 16-7 to begin final season, after they received the World Series. They began the 2024 season a shameful 16-11, however in addition they received the World Series that 12 months. If the first quantity is 16, the second quantity is rather a lot decrease than 16.
The first beginning pitcher for the Dodgers in this collection shall be the solely man on the planet who can match World Series exploits with Madison Bumgarner. Their second shall be the perennial MVP, who’s doing his greatest to win the Cy Young as a cutesy lark as a result of he can. Their third has good bone construction and plenty of strikeouts.
For each stroll the Giants have taken, the Dodgers have taken two. For each residence run the Giants have hit, the Dodgers have hit three. The Giants have averaged 3.41 runs per recreation to date, the second-worst price in the National League. The Dodgers have averaged 6.05 runs per recreation, the greatest price in the majors, by far.
I might preserve going, and a part of me desires to. It’s oddly therapeutic. The level has been made, nonetheless. The Dodgers are up; the Giants are down. All of the good issues are taking place to the Dodgers; only a few of the good issues are taking place to the Giants. The Dodgers don’t have to fret a lot when Kyle Tucker performs like a traditional on a regular basis participant; the Giants really feel cooked if a single common is underperforming expectations. The Dodgers are …
Whoops! See, that’s the downside, right here. It’s not plenty of enjoyable to put in writing about the ol’ Giants-Dodgers rivalry nowadays. Even in the most charitable view of the 2026 Giants, they’re a down-on-their-luck, hardscrabble wild-card crew that’s simply ready to get sizzling. They’re not a menace to get sizzling sufficient to overhaul the Dodgers.
This might result in a type of half-rousing publish about how this all makes it higher and extra pleasing when the Giants really beat the Dodgers at Oracle Park. It’s why you bear in mind video games from gamers like Guillermo Quíroz and Trevor Brown, or the time Buster Posey backpicked Justin Turner to save Mark Melancon’s bacon, which quickly allowed you to neglect that the Dodgers had good gamers and your crew had Mark Melancon. It’s exceptionally enjoyable when a nasty Giants crew beats a dominant Dodgers crew. It’s like throwing water on a bully’s pants to make it appear to be he moist himself, proper earlier than he stuffs you in a dumpster and latches it. You’ll nonetheless be caught in there when his pants dry, however hope you take pleasure in explaining away the pants till then, buddy.
Yes, moments like these make the lopsided rivalry worthwhile for a quick, flickering second, nevertheless it’s ineffective as a solution to get anybody enthusiastic about Giants-Dodgers baseball. “This cool thing might happen. Wouldn’t it be wild if it did?” doesn’t work when the Giants lose two video games towards the Dodgers for each one which they win, which is what’s occurred, with a 4-9 head-to-head document towards them in every of the final two seasons. The solely time they’ve had a profitable document towards the Dodgers in the final 10 years was in 2021, and even then, it was solely a 10-9 season victory. Just like the division title, they barely squeaked it out.
The final time the Giants had a regular-season benefit over the Dodgers was 2021, and even in the greatest season in franchise historical past, they barely received the season collection. (D. Ross Cameron / USA Today)
There’s a tiny scrap of excellent information, a bit of glimmer of … properly, I wouldn’t even name it hope. It’s extra like a bit of glimmer of not-pain on the horizon. And it’s present in the reply to a query that I get rather a lot, which is a few variation of this: Are the Dodgers going to maintain doing this eternally? Will the rivalry ever be good once more?
The solutions are not any and sure, respectively. It’ll take some time. Maybe the longest whereas, however the Dodgers can’t preserve mashing the “Golden Age” button with cash and big-brained concepts. Furthermore, the rivalry will get actually good once more as quickly as the Giants get higher gamers. Or if — anticipate it — a few of the gamers they’ve now play higher. Combine each of the above with some prospects, and now you’ve acquired a stew going.
The second one is apparent sufficient that it doesn’t want a lot clarification. Be cautious to recollect there are groups in baseball which have by no means even received their division (Rockies, Marlins), so it’s not like shock division-winning seasons are handed out solely at random. The Giants don’t should get one simply because they caught round lengthy sufficient. Yes, an excellent Giants crew will make these collection so, so, a lot extra enjoyable to stay up for.
Go again to that first level, then, which is the most typical query I get. It’s comprehensible defeatism, a studying of the Dodgers that goes one thing like this: cash begets higher gamers and higher farm methods, which begets extra money, which begets higher gamers and higher farm methods. The Dodgers preserve begetting, and some people are sick and bored with it, frankly.
Yep, they’ll be good for some time. A protracted whereas. Maybe eternally, or no matter which means in our topsy-turvy trendy world. They have the perpetual movement machine working, and the conveyor belt is buzzing. They’re additionally doing stuff like turning Andy Pages right into a famous person whenever you’re not wanting.
Still, they’ll by no means have one other Shohei Ohtani. They may need one. They may sit atop a pile of rubies and emeralds and demand that different groups convey them their Shohei Ohtani as a tribute, however there won’t be one other Shohei Ohtani to be discovered. They’ll attempt to construct one of their underground laboratory with costly, artisanally made elements — no 3D printing or Temu dreck for them — however they’ll at all times come up quick.
That’s as a result of there’ll by no means be one other participant like Ohtani, regardless of how exhausting they need one. It’s like, think about being the richest particular person in the world, however you’re simply not humorous. All you wish to be is humorous. It’s exhausting to think about, however stick with me. This hypothetical particular person could be haunted eternally by what they can not possess.
The Dodgers shall be like that after Ohtani, nonetheless far in the future that is perhaps, however they’ll be much more haunted as a result of they’ll bear in mind what it was like to look at a baseball participant that near the solar, and they’ll desperately wish to watch one other one. There is, nonetheless, simply one among these guys each eternally or so.
This is coming from authority as a result of the roles had been reversed as soon as. Not when it comes to general may and monetary sources, however when it comes to a superhuman participant. The Giants completed forward of the Dodgers in each season from 1997 by way of 2003, and they did so by way of the grace of Barry Bonds. He was so good, so otherworldly, that he might choose a mediocre crew up and flip them right into a pennant-winning crew, a perennial menace to win the division, if not end with the greatest document in baseball.
It was rad. It’ll most likely by no means occur once more. Although they most likely stated that about Willie Mays, and then the participant who captures the similar magic seems to be his personal godson. Maybe we should always pry into Bonds’ private life and see if he’s been invited to any confirmations currently, however no, it’ll by no means occur once more. There was one Bonds. Hope you loved it.
Ohtani is like that, besides as a substitute of taking common and even barely above-average groups so far as Bonds did, he’s gifted with all types of assist, from the entrance workplace to an aggressive possession group to the farm system. He’s tasked with making an awesome crew into one among the biggest groups of all time. They’ll be in each dialog for the subsequent 100 years, actually.
That stinks, in case you’re a Giants fan. It stinks actually dangerous. However, identical to Bonds, it’ll go away, and the Dodgers will change into extra like the Yankees, the place they’ll at all times be good, however they’ll have seasons the place they’re lower than nice. It’s the nature of each crew, regardless of what number of free brokers they’ll afford. Eventually, the prospects will dry up, and the veterans will decline earlier than their time as a result of that’s the subterfuge that baseball’s greatest at.
It simply doesn’t really feel nice proper now, although. What with them* having all the “wins” and “a generational titan who might be the best baseball player who ever lived.” It received’t be eternally. It solely appears that manner proper now.
* The Dodgers
