MLB power rankings: At last, they meet

The San Diego Padres’ Jackson Merrill reacts after striking out during the seventh inning of Game 5 of their National League Division Series against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

By Jeff Sanders | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune

PUBLISHED: June 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM PDT

The Padres have been building toward the Dodgers.

Especially of late.

More than two months into the season, the two heated NL West rivals are finally facing each other for the first time this week and the Padres are just one game behind the Dodgers as they arrive at Petco Park.

They don’t have much going for them at the plate right now outside of Manny Machado (more on that below), but 12 of their last 13 games have been decided by two runs or fewer and the Padres have won nine of those games.

Better yet, they won four of those games during a seven-game road trip through playoff-hopeful San Francisco and Milwaukee.

That’s one way to get ready for the Dodgers.

“It’s been fun, man,” said Machado, who drove in Sunday’s only run via a homer. “I mean, this whole week has been prepping us for the series, right? You know, San Fran was a hell of a series. We come (to Milwaukee) and it was even tougher than that. So I think every series has been, it’s been getting tougher and tougher for us, and we’ve been kind of exceeding those expectations. So continue to do that. I mean, we know what we’re going to run up against and we definitely got ready for it this week.”

1 | Detroit Tigers (43-24, Last week: 1)

Not just the Tarik Skubal show: He (2.16 ERA), Reese Olson (2.96) and Casey Mize (2.91) all have an ERA under 3.00.

2 | New York Mets (42-24, LW: 5)

Pete Alonso has reached royalty status in Queens as his 243 blasts ed David Wright for second all-time in Mets history.

3 | New York Yankees (39-25, LW: 4)

Reallocating the Juan Soto money toward Max Fried (8-1, 1.78 ERA) is working out well for the Yankees.

4 | Chicago Cubs (40-25, LW: 2)

The Seiya Suzuki investment is really starting to pay out: His 16 homers are second on the team and five shy of his career high and we’re a month away from the All-Star break.

5 | Los Angeles Dodgers (39-27, LW: 3)

Because the Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list, someone named Justin Wrobleski will start Wednesday against the Padres and they do not know who will start Tuesday, and all the money they have says things will be just fine.

6 | San Diego Padres (37-27, LW: 8)

Can this really go on like this? Manny Machado has four home runs in June and no other Padre has any.

7 | San Francisco Giants (38-28, LW: 9)

The Giants lost the first two games last week against the Padres, cleaned up the edges of their roster (LaMonte Wade Jr. was DFA’d and traded to Anaheim, for instance) and they’ve won five straight games since.

8 | St. Louis Cardinals (36-29, LW: 7)

Are the Cardinals for real? Two wins this weekend against the Dodgers says they might be.

9 | Tampa Bay Rays (35-30, LW: 12)

Running wild: The Rays lead the majors with 90 steals and suddenly find themselves in a three-way tie for the AL’s top wild-card spot with the Blue Jays and Twins.

10 | Philadelphia Phillies (37-28, LW: 6)

Bryce Harper missed five games with an elbow contusion, but it’s lingering right wrist pain — the same one that dogged him last year — that has sent him to the injured list.