Dodgers vs. Padres: L.A.’s starting rotation carousel continues as Dylan Cease, Manny Machado stand out for San Diego

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The Dodgers and Padres squared off this week in their first of four 2025 regular-season series and the first rematch since the Southern California foes faced off in last year’s NLDS. With the Dodgers holding a one-game lead on both the Padres and Giants atop the NL West entering the series, the stakes were readily apparent.

The back-and-forth series opener — an 8-7 Dodgers victory in 10 innings — was an appropriate reintroduction to this rivalry, offering a much more elevated and dramatic contest than what you’d expect on a Monday in June. The second game Tuesday was far less compelling, as L.A.’s bullpen game went awry in a hurry and San Diego cruised to an 11-1 blowout. A more competitive atmosphere resumed in Wednesday’s rubber match, with a three-run homer from Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth providing the necessary cushion for a 5-2 Dodgers victory.

Here are four takeaways from the first edition of Dodgers-Padres in 2025:

Dodgers’ rotation carousel continues

The ever-evolving enigma that is the Dodgers’ rotation provided its latest round of plot twists this week. Dustin May, one of just two L.A. starters along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto to take the ball every turn through the rotation, scuffled Monday, surrendering six runs across five innings and mustering just one strikeout, tied for a season low. On Tuesday, veteran reliever Lou Trivino became the 14th pitcher to start a game for the Dodgers this season, putting Los Angeles atop a leaderboard on which it surely would prefer not to be featured. Sure, Trivino took the ball as an opener, but his joining the list of L.A. starters is emblematic of what the Dodgers have been navigating with pitcher injuries this season — for the second year in a row. Last season, the Dodgers used 17 starting pitchers, which was tied with the White Sox and Brewers for third-most in baseball, behind only the Marlins (20) and Angels (18).

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In Game 3, the Dodgers pivoted from their originally announced starter, Justin Wrobleski, and gave the ball to another rookie in Ben Casparius, whom, manager Dave Roberts revealed before the game, the organization is considering stretching out as a starter to help cover the missing innings on the injured list. Casparius has excelled as a reliever since getting called up late last season, including in multi-inning stints, but he was developed as a starter in the minors, making him an ideal candidate to transition back to a rotation role. Casparius allowed one run across four innings Wednesday; his 54 pitches were tied for the second-most he has thrown in a game this season.

Of course, the Dodgers’ most important developments on the mound this week did not take place during any of the games at Petco Park, but rather, in the hours before Tuesday’s contest. The Dodgers received a pair of encouraging updates on two of their highest-profile pitchers working their way back: Blake Snell, who signed a $182 million free-agent contract over the winter and made two starts before going on the injured list due to a shoulder issue, and Shohei Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched in a big-league game since Aug. 23, 2023, but has 23 home runs as the Dodgers’ DH. You know, those guys.

Snell threw his first bullpen session since April on Tuesday and came out of it feeling great, seemingly marking the first substantial step toward his return to the rotation amidst what has been a frustrating and prolonged absence from his new team. Then Ohtani participated in another live bullpen session and looked sharp enough to warrant an intriguing suggestion from Roberts that the international sensation could perhaps resume his two-way exploits for the Dodgers before the All-Star break.

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It’s still not clear when Snell or Ohtani will take the mound again in an official capacity, but any notable progress toward their returns counts as major news for L.A. as the team continues to search for enough innings on a nearly daily basis.

Dylan Cease delivers his best start of the season

With ample run support from the Padres’ bats against the Dodgers’ wayward bullpen game, Dylan Cease didn’t need to be perfect to secure the win in Tuesday’s 11-1 victory. Nevertheless, the 29-year-old right-hander turned in an especially excellent outing. He struck out a season-high 11 across seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits, albeit with a season-high five free passes.

With some of the nastiest stuff in the league, Cease has been the epitome of effectively wild for much of his career, with his ability to rack up whiffs counterbalancing his occasionally shoddy control. Tuesday represented the good version of this genre of pitching, as Cease coaxed a ridiculous 24 swing-and-misses from Dodgers hitters to stifle run-scoring opportunities even when the walks enabled some traffic on the bases. Cease is one of just two pitchers to tally at least 24 whiffs in a game multiple times this season; Tarik Skubal is the other.

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It was a refreshing showing from Cease, whose value to San Diego so far this season has been rooted more in durability than dominance. A complete clunker on April 8, in which he allowed nine runs in four innings in Sacramento, has sullied his overall season statline — remove that start, and Cease’s ERA would be 3.39, not 4.28 — but we also haven’t seen that many impressive pitching lines from the righty this year. Tuesday was Cease’s first scoreless outing of the season, which makes this showing against a stellar Dodgers lineup very encouraging. He remains a pivotal character for the Padres in their quest to dethrone the Dodgers atop the NL West and make serious noise in October. And on an individual level, each Cease outing carries weight considering his status as one of the best starting pitchers scheduled to hit free agency this winter.

Manny Machado’s days as an MVP candidate are not over

For the first month of the season, Fernando Tatis Jr. appeared to be the likeliest Padre to be included in NL MVP discussions, with his power, speed and defense contributing heavily to San Diego’s success. But Tatis has quietly faded recently, while Machado has reemerged as the undisputed face of the franchise and is once again producing like one of the best players in baseball, right when it seemed his decline might’ve begun.

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Over the previous two seasons, Machado’s 6.9 fWAR and 118 wRC+ ranked eighth and seventh, respectively, among third basemen. Those were respectable marks but hardly commensurate with the MVP-caliber production he demonstrated from 2020 to ‘22, when Machado’s 14.2 fWAR and 140 wRC+ ranked second among third basemen, behind only Jose Ramirez.

This year, Machado has reclaimed his rightful spot in the inner circle of hot corner excellence, once again ranking second in WAR behind Ramirez and currently boasting a 154 wRC+, which would be the best mark of his celebrated career. With two hits Monday, plus another three hits and five RBI on Tuesday, Machado has 24 multi-hit games this season; only Aaron Judge, Jacob Wilson, Freddie Freeman and Ramirez have more.

It took a few years for the Padres to start winning after Machado’s landmark signing in 2019, but there is no doubt that his steady and constant presence at third base has fundamentally defined this golden era of Padres baseball. That reality is as true as ever in 2025.

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Where does Michael Conforto fit on this Dodgers team?

“There’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal,” the saying goes, but it’s difficult to deny that Michael Conforto has been a downright disappointment since joining the Dodgers on a one-year, $17 million pact this past offseason. A strong first couple of weeks suggested that the veteran outfielder could provide a boost to the bottom of the L.A. lineup, but he faded fast: Conforto registered as many extra-base hits in his first eight games as a Dodger (6) as he did over his next 52, with his 80 wRC+ ranking 151st out of 174 hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. This extended cold streak serves as valuable context for what we saw from Conforto this week against the Padres, as the series offered reason to be modestly optimistic about Conforto’s role moving forward.

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On Monday, Conforto did not start against Padres starter Nick Pivetta, marking just the second time this season that he didn’t start against a right-handed pitcher. Instead, the Dodgers started Andy Pages in left field, with rookie Hyeseong Kim in center and Tommy Edman at second. With the emergence of Kim, the return of the versatile Edman and Pages proving that he belongs in the lineup every day, the Dodgers have three seemingly superior options to Conforto at their disposal.

Then again, Conforto was right back in the lineup Tuesday and Wednesday, and he launched his fourth homer of the season in the series finale, so perhaps it’s too early to assume the Dodgers are ready to relegate Conforto to bench bat duties. Still, these four players and how they fit into three lineup spots (LF, CF, 2B) are certainly a roster-construction subplot worth monitoring.

This news was originally published on this post .

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