Are the Padres the Dodgers biggest rival?

For many years, the Dodgers and their fans have considered the Padres the little brothers to the South. Rarely considered a serious rival, the LA fans and team alike considered the “Beat LA” chants and elevated emotion during Padres-Dodgers games as being something only San Diegans cared about.

As recently as May of 2023, Houston Mitchell wrote in the Los Angeles Times about what a joke it is that the Padres and their fans consider themselves the Dodgers’ biggest rivals. He even brought up the ‘crying Kershaw’ scoreboard posting and equated the Padres to the party guest who won’t leave, tries to be cute, and that everyone feels sorry for.

There are multiple examples prior to 2023 of many in…