The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers are enjoying another great battle for the National League West, with the Padres even taking the lead in the division for a short time recently.
However, the Dodgers are back in front with less than a month to go, and if they keep up the way they've been doing, they will take their 12th division title in the last 13 seasons.
And the sheer dominance of the reigning World Series champions in the division has led two of their biggest stars to question the integrity of the "rivalry" of the two Southern California teams, and whether it should be called that or not.
Mookie Betts and Will Smith Severely Downplayed the 'Rivalry' On Betts' Podcast
On the podcast of Dodgers' star infielder Mookie Betts, the former MVP brought teammate Will Smith, the team's catcher, and the two agreed that the tension between the Dodgers and Padres needed a little more history before it entered the territory of a true rivalry.
“I think we’ve (Los Angeles and San Diego) had five years now of some really good baseball games, really good series, postseason matchups and stuff," said Smith. "But Red Sox-Yankees is 100 years old. That’s the rivalry in baseball, just from a historical standpoint. I’m not taking away from our battles with them, but I just think time and longevity mean something a little bit more than where we’re at with them. But it’s fun, though.”
Betts also compared the battles to that of the Yankees and Red Sox, from his perspective as a former Red Sox player.
"I feel like here it’s mostly just about baseball and who has the best team. It’s a beautiful thing. I definitely enjoy coming into Petco and hearing all their fans and whatnot. Super loud and it’s a great atmosphere to play baseball. But with the Yankees and Red Sox, it’s baseball but it’s about the cities. It’s like, whose city is better? Who can be the loudest? I think to your point, it runs much, much deeper and is so long with the history.”
As of now, the Dodgers and Padres are both cleared to make the postseason, with the Boys in Blue leading the NL West standings by two games over the Friars, who currently sit three games above the cut line in the NL Wild Card race.