Last year, one game separated them in the regular season. Their playoff series wasn’t decided until the ninth inning of a winner-take-all Game 5.
It was as intense, dramatic and competitive as almost any season in the history of their rivalry, which spans more than a century.
And if Tuesday night was any indication, the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants might do it all over again.
In their first meeting of the season, the Dodgers won 3-1 in front of 43,370 at Dodger Stadium, prevailing in a pitchers duel between Julio Urías (six scoreless innings) and Carlos Rodón (two runs on only three hits over six innings).
Like many of their matchups last year — when the 106-win Dodgers were edged out by the 107-win Giants for the National League West title, before knocking the Giants out of the playoffs in a classic five-game division series — the contest remained in the balance until the very end.
After Chris Taylor gave the Dodgers an early lead with a two-run single in the second inning, the Giants had chances to come back. They scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. They had the go-ahead run at the plate in the eighth. And even after the Dodgers tacked on an insurance run, the Giants again had the tying runs on base in the ninth, before closer Craig Kimbrel ended the game while picking up his fifth save.
“Both teams have shown relevance in the National League that there’s higher stakes,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “You can forecast looking later into September and October that these two teams could be facing each other again for high stakes. I think it’s great for the rivalry, I think it’s great for baseball.”
The Dodgers and Giants already appeared primed for a repeat of last season, their early season performances hinting at another season-long duel in the NL West.
The Dodgers (15-7) began the day tied with the San Diego Padres for first place in the division, a half-game better than the Giants (14-9).
The Giants led the league in scoring at 4.95 runs per game, just ahead of the Dodgers’ second-best mark of 4.86.
The Dodgers had the majors’ best team earned-run average at 2.33, with the Giants close behind at 3.06, ranking fourth.
“It’s a great series, it’s a great rivalry,” Roberts said. “It’s very taxing, physically and mentally, because they do such a great job of matching up.”
The rivalry has become increasingly strategic too.
Roberts said Tuesday afternoon the Dodgers weren’t ready to announce their starting pitcher for Wednesday — in part because they wanted to see how Tuesday’s game played out after moving Urías up a day, but also because they were in no rush to let the Giants know who they’d be facing.
“You can say it’s gamesmanship,” Roberts said, “but I don’t think that we’re just dead set on who we want to start tomorrow.”
The Giants, meanwhile, didn’t release their lineup for Tuesday’s game until 4:38 p.m., more than an hour and a half after the Dodgers.
“On the surface, it’s great quality baseball, a lot of talented baseball players on the field,” Roberts said. “But under the hood, there’s a lot of cat and mouse in trying to get matchup advantages.”
On Tuesday, the Dodgers found the edge.
Their rally in the second inning was sparked by a couple of left-hander-versus-left-hander walks by Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger against Rodón, who then threw a wild pitch to let them advance.
With two outs, Taylor fell behind 0-and-2 before laying off a high slider and lining a 98-mph fastball into center field to make it 2-0.
Urías avoided such mistakes. He struck out four batters. He didn’t walk any. The closest the Giants — who had several key players on the injured list and COVID IL — came to scoring was a couple long fly balls in the fifth inning, two of several deep drives from both teams on Tuesday that died in the outfield.
Urías’ night ended early, with Roberts pulling him after only 65 pitches. The Dodgers bullpen, however, picked up the final nine outs. The offense, meanwhile, padded the lead in the eighth, when Giants reliever Jose Alvarado — who seemingly struggled to hear the PitchCom signs in his cap over the roar of the crowd — threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score.
Kimbrel shut the door a half-inning later, stranding a leadoff walk and infield single to give the Dodgers a win in the rivalry’s first renewal this season. Still, little separated the two teams. The latest memorable edition of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry may just be getting started.
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