Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is a big reason of why the team is tied for first place on the National League West Division, along with the San Diego Padres.
The defending MLB champions have a 74-57 record, and even though they have struggled during the 2025 regular season, they know what it takes to win a championship.
The good news for the Dodgers is that they will not face the Padres anymore during the remainder of the campaign, which means that the Los Angeles franchise has everything going right for them for a great ending to the season, as they hope to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Shohei Ohtani deals with a heckler
After going 0-for-10 in the series, Shohei Ohtani crushed a ninth-inning homer against the San Diego Padres, his 45th of the season, helping seal an 8-2 Dodgers win, a very important step towards the Los Angeles hopes to contend for another championship.
Instead of heading straight to the dugout, Ohtani approached a Padres fan in a superstar slugger Fernando Tatis Jr. jersey who had been heckling him, shared a quick high-five, and gave him a pat on the back. A true class act all the way.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained after the game that the fan had been on Ohtani all afternoon. The gesture showed Shohei‘s competitive edge, and his ability to have fun with it. That’s just the kind of stuff that makes baseball players special.
A rookie steps up for Los Angeles
Rookie catcher Dalton Rushing’s go-ahead three-run blast in the seventh inning helped the Los Angeles Dodgers avoid a sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres with an 8-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.
“He’s a confident young player,” Roberts said of Rushing. “But regardless of what a player says, certainly a young player, performance matters, and you have to have success to have true confidence.”
Dalton was ranked as MLB Pipeline’s top Dodgers prospect when he was called up to be Will Smith‘s backup in May. The team made clear that its main expectation for the 24-year-old was for him to excel behind the plate and build relationships with his pitching staff. Any offensive upside would be a bonus.
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