Dodgers on brink of another postseason collapse with Game 3 loss vs. Padres
SAN DIEGO (KTTV) - The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the brink of yet another postseason collapse after a dominant regular season.
The 98-win Dodgers dropped Game 3 on the road to the San Diego Padres 6-5, leaving LA trailing 2-1 in a best-of-5 National League Division Series.
The Dodgers will need to beat the Padres in San Diego for Game 4 on Wednesday, October 9 if the Boys In Blue want to 1) keep the season alive; and 2) force a winner-take-all Game 5 back at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers are hoping to exorcise their recent postseason demons with a series win, especially against the NL West rivals Padres, of all teams. Prior to the Dodgers' Game 1 win on Saturday, the Boys in Blue had lost six playoff games in a row, with the team's postseason struggles dating back to 2022, when the Padres took the final three games of NLDS to knock Los Angeles out of the playoffs that season. In 2023, the Dodgers were immediately bounced in the NLDS of that season by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game sweep.
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SERIES SCHEDULE
- GAME 1: Dodgers 7, Padres 5. Final.
- GAME 2: Padres 10, Dodgers 2. Final.
- GAME 3: Padres 6, Dodgers 5. Final.
- GAME 4: at San Diego, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 6:08 p.m. PT
- GAME 5*: HOME, Friday, Oct. 11, 5:08 p.m. PT
*=if the Dodgers win Game 4.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Dodgers secured the first-round bye and a spot in the NLDS after finishing the 2024 regular season with a 98-64 record.
Should the Dodgers take care of business in the division series, the Boys in Blue are guaranteed home-field advantage for the NLCS and – knock on wood – can also host games 1, 2, 5 and 7 of the World Series, if they get that far.
The Padres punched their ticket to the NLDS after sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the wildcard round. San Diego got into the postseason after finishing the regular season with a 93-69 record.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.