The National League West is shaping up to be a three-team race, with the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants all separated by only one game entering Monday. The Dodgers are playing both teams this week, somehow for the first time in 2025 even though we are in the second full week of June.
Believe it or not, this is not the latest into a season the Dodgers are playing both divisional rivals.
Monday, when the Dodgers open a three-game series at Petco Park in San Diego, is the Dodgers’ 67th game of the season. Friday will be game no. 70 when the Dodgers host the Giants in Los Angeles.
But this has happened before.
Latest first LA-SD matchups
Year
Game No.
Total vs. Padres
Year
Game No.
Total vs. Padres
1996
83
13
2000
74
13
1998
69
12
1989
68
18
2025
67
13
Lastest first LA-SF matchups
Year
Game No.
Total vs. Giants
Year
Game No.
Total vs. Giants
1998
85
12
1999
71
13
2025
70
13
The Rockies and Marlins as expansion teams in 1993, swelling the National League from 12 to 14 teams. That switched the longtime schedule of playing five divisional opponents 18 times and playing the six teams in the other division 12 times into a more balanced affair from 1993-2000.
That meant only 12 or 13 games against divisional opponents, and fewer opportunities to play the familiar foes. In 1996, 1998, and 2000, the Dodgers’ first game against the Padres was later into the season than this year. Same for 1998 and 1999 against the Giants.
The one outlier here is in 1989, back on the old two-division schedule and with 18 matchups per year. The Dodgers that year somehow didn’t play San Diego until June 19, in their 68th game of the season.
After 22 years of the unbalanced schedule, Major League Baseball in 2023 moved back to a more balanced schedule, reducing divisional matchups from 19 games per season to 13, while also having every team play all 29 other teams every single season.
That leads to schedule quirks like this, with the Dodgers having already concluded their season series against the Cubs, Braves, Marlins, and Mets before playing the Padres or Giants even once.
The Dodgers will make up for lost time a bit, with their next 10 games coming against San Diego and San Francisco, including four games against the Padres from June 16-19 at Dodger Stadium after this week.