SAN DIEGO _ I'll be rooting for the Padres and the Dodgers to advance to the second round of the four-tier World Series tournament next month.
At last, it would be win or go home between the Pads and Dodgers. Their showdowns of September 1996 and this week afforded both teams a safety net.
Whetting the appetite, the games this summer between the Southern California teams have charged up a 60-game MLB season much challenged by the coronavirus pandemic. Even with no fans at Petco Park and Dodger Stadium, the Padres and Dodgers created plenty of atmosphere.
Look at the star power. Mookie Betts. Fernando Tatis. Clayton Kershaw. Manny Machado. Cody Bellinger.
"I'm scared of batting against Dinelson Lamet, and I'm sitting at home," a veteran scout said. New Padres ace Mike "Sunshine" Clevinger, when he first met San Diego media in a Zoom chat, dressed like he belongs on the Sgt. Pepper cover. His pitches can be as electric as Jimi Hendrix's performance at Woodstock. And Padres outfielder Wil Myers is playing perhaps the best baseball of his life.
Did you see young Dodgers pitcher Dustin May, the top performer in L.A.'s victory Wednesday? He has a Kevin Brown turbo-sinker. Brown, recall, helped get Petco Park built. The hired gun who led the Padres to the 1998 World Series, Brown had the best stuff of any Padres pitcher.
