If the Dodgers plan to turn their NL Division Series matchup with the Padres into a grainy rerun of their lopsided dominance of recent seasons, they could find themselves adjusting the foil-covered rabbit ears to sharpen the picture.
The Padres — reinvented, reinvigorated and reloading after a convincing wild-card series win in New York against the Mets — promise must-watch television.
No matter how the best-of-five playoff collision shakes out, starting Tuesday with Game 1 at Dodgers Stadium (6:37 p.m., FS1), it boasts spicy plotlines lacking for years. It has superstars, in full crescendo. It has game-changing pitching. It has big boppers, clutch defenders and savvy, veteran managers.
And now, it has a group of Padres with the potential to truly change things.
Without a doubt, the Dodgers are big favorites with 111 regular-season wins, home-field advantage and nine consecutive series victories over the other dugout. The body language, voice inflection and genuine conviction of Padres players about the moment and momentum feel dynamically different, though.
Settle in. Pop some popcorn. Mute the phone.
"This is when it matters," said centerfielder Trent Grisham, who awoke from offensive hibernation to become the most impactful bat in the Mets series. "You're going to have to beat us now (as opposed to all those thens). This team has a lot of confidence, this team believes in everybody in this locker room and we're going to go out there and play our hearts out."
Can the Padres deliver on the promise? Can they back up the renewed belief? Will the Dodgers shrug and simply do what Dodgers do to Padres, time and again?
It's all possible, which is the compelling point.
Though the Dodgers have won 23 of the past 28 games between the clubs, the Padres watched slow-developing trade deadline pickups Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Josh Hader flip the switch at the perfect time. In addition to the soaring rise of Grisham, ace Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove have been exceptional. The Padres rotation as a whole has been the franchise's best in at least a quarter of a century.
True, too, is that the offensive juggernaut of the Dodgers with Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman at the top of the order sizes up production-wise with some of the best of all time.
The 162-game appetizer sated the stomach, but the feast awaits.
"It's different," Swiss Army knife Wil Myers said. "It's one of those things, I think we put some pressure on ourselves in the regular season. We've got nothing to lose. That's when I think we play our best baseball."
The longest tenured guy wearing mud and mustard raised a rock-solid point. All the pressure is parked on the shoulders of the Dodgers, who have not won a full-season World Series since 1988 despite spending like a Kardashian.
In all measurable ways, from all conceivable angles, the Dodgers are supposed to shoo away the suddenly pesky Padres. If it gets dicey, which team can control its blood pressure?
"Coming on the road to New York and playing in a hostile environment like this, having to do three in a row in this place is not easy," reasoned Musgrove, whose shutout one-hitter in seven innings Sunday ranks as one of the most clutch performances in franchise history.
"I think prepping and having the experience of playing on the road in a tough environment, we know what we're getting into when we go to L.A. We played them better down the stretch.
"I think we're playing the best baseball we've played all year."
Could things collapse for the Padres like a house of cards in a hurricane? Sure. The Dodgers have a habit of punching momentum in the nose.
The Padres never have spent as much to compete against the relentlessly spending Dodgers, chased big names so aggressively and consistently and bear-hugged a "whatever it takes" attitude as they have under principal owner Peter Seidler and President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller.
The playing field might not be even, but it's not a terrifying tumble off the rim of the Grand Canyon either.
"We've been playing playoff games basically the whole last month," Preller said Sunday in the Champagne-soaked clubhouse. "We know the Dodgers well. They're a phenomenal team. There's only four teams left in the National League. We're one of them. We'll be ready to go."
Soon, four becomes two.
"We have the team to do it and we have the team to beat them," Hader said. "We're going to show up and we're going to give them a run for their money."
That's the thing. No matter the tattered past, the Padres envision the possible.
If the TV has a sound bar, it might be worth adjusting that, too.
