The competition for the National League West looks to be intense with the Los Angeles Dodgers as favorites and the San Diego Padres as challengers, while the Arizona D-Backs, San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies will be looking to have a good campaign to get into the playoffs.
Ahead of the start of the season, Dominican Manny Machado believes the Padres are ready to take revenge on the Dodgers and take away their division throne.
“What we did last year as an organization and as a team, you know, a lot of people didn’t expect that from us. We overcame a lot of things, a lot of adversity and built something pretty special here. Coming into this season, we have the same team that went out, we’re missing some pieces that went away, but with the team we have there we’re ready to compete,” Machado told MLB Network, after Yonder Alonso questioned him on whether the Padres will rule the West, where Machado added confidently: “We’re ready to take care of some unfinished business we have.”
Dodgers fans lash out at Manny Machado
The rematch Manny Machado is talking about is after last season they lost to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS and the Los Angeles fans did not hesitate to throw themselves against former Los Angeles players: “They say this every year.”
The rivalry between these California teams is clear, although it seems that the duo of Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado will have to make a great effort to compete to dethrone the millionaire Dodgers lineup led by Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, as well as the powerful rotation they will have in the 2025 season.
“They will finish 15 games behind,” another fan responded to Manny Machado‘s bold prediction, while another added: “He never stops talking about the Dodgers.”
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