The Los Angeles Dodgers have won six of their first eight games against the San Diego Padres this season, but that hasn't convinced some MLB analysts the defending champions will get through them in October.

A solid effort by Blake Snell coupled by several Padres mistakes allow the Dodgers to take a 6-0 win and sole possession of first place in the NL West.

The San Diego Padres play against the Los Angeles Dodgers in an MLB game tonight. Fans can watch this game for free online.

Kershaw outpitched injured Padres starter Michael King’s replacement, Randy Vásquez, the bulk-innings pitcher. Vásquez went 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs. He came in after reliever Wandy Peralta got four outs to open the game.

Darvish hasn't needed his bat since the National League adopted the designated hitter rule permanently in 2022. But he still warms up left-handed on occasion, as evidenced by this video posted to Twitter/X on Tuesday by Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla:

The Padres spent months chasing down -- and eventually overtaking -- the Dodgers in the National League West standings. Staying atop the division, it seems, will be another challenge entirely.

According to MLB Pipeline, the Padres' farm system after such a wild trade deadline ranked dead last in baseball. In the preseason, they ranked 25th, but after a wild deadline, Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra, and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com had an easy time ranking the Padres in last place.

Mookie Betts had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the third inning, Teoscar Hernández homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat San Diego 3-2 on Friday night to tie the Padres atop the NL West.

A.J. Preller of the San Diego Padres is arguably the most fun general manager in MLB because of his insatiable desire to make trades, but that also makes him difficult for people around the league to deal with.

Both were thrown out trying to steal during the ensuing at-bat by catcher Will Smith. The first might have cost the Padres a run as Luis Arraez followed with a ground-rule double. Manny Machado followed with a walk and he too was thrown out trying to take second on the back-end of a double-steal.