Front Row Seat: Michael King heads back to the injured list

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1st place Padres & SDFC’s U-20 pipeline

Preparing for this weekend’s Padres-Dodgers series and chatting with the head coach of the US under-20 men’s national team.

Section 1904Darren Smith

Padres at Dodgers

One start in after 3-month absence, King (knee) heads back to IL - Padres.com
Right-hander Michael King is going back on the injured list after just one start, a major blow to the Padres rotation ahead of perhaps San Diego’s biggest series of the season.

King, who was scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, was placed on the 15-day IL (retroactive to Monday) with left knee inflammation. The right-hander had just returned from a lengthy IL stint due to a thoracic nerve issue in his right shoulder, an injury that cost him nearly three months.

Roles reversed as Padres, Dodgers renew rivalry - San Diego Union-Tribune
Shildt comes as close to managing every game like it might be his last as is possible when a season involves 162 games. When that is the mantra and the mindset, there is less inclination to make a certain series bigger.

Even if it is.

“Very important,” Tatis said. “The team is in our division, and we want to gain ground. So we better get out there and take care of business.”

Dodgers have tumbled out of first place, but their season starts this weekend against NL West-leading Padres - Yahoo Sports
Los Angeles’ 2025 season, for all intents and purposes, begins Friday night. The surging San Diego Padres — suddenly one game up in the National League West for the first time since April 23 — are in town for what should be another memorable notch in a rivalry that’s blossomed into baseball’s best. The defending champs, meanwhile, are reeling, licking their wounds from an embarrassing series sweep in Anaheim. It was the first time in Freeway Series history that the Angels went 6-0 against their northern foes in a season.

Hailed, hated and hyped over the winter as a team for the ages, these Dodgers have fallen short of those lofty expectations, so far. The most expensive roster in MLB history, a roster that was framed as a referendum of sorts on the state of money in baseball, has been an oft-injured, underperforming husk of itself.

Dodgers, Padres face off in spicy NL West race: ‘The rivalry part is certainly real’ - The Athletic
The drama will again be compressed, with six games in a 10-day span. When the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres get involved, that means plenty of time for tensions to explode.

“I think that the rivalry part is certainly real,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week. “Which brings emotions. I do think it’s one of those things where they’re very hyperfocused on us. But I guess it’s a compliment. Still, we’ve got to match their intensity because they want to beat us more than anything.”

‘Contrasting styles.’ Why Dodgers-Padres has become baseball’s most heated rivalry - Los Angeles Times
To the rest of the baseball world, the Padres have been a plucky feel-good story over the last half-decade. They’re a small-market team that has become an annual postseason contender. They have an aggressive front office, a roster full of big personalities, and an ever-pulsing current of emotion and intensity reverberating from the dugout through their frenzied home crowds.

In Los Angeles, however, the perspective couldn’t be more different. The Dodgers have long been the ruling power in the National League West, champions of the division 11 times in the last 12 years. The Padres, on the other hand, are the rebels who won’t surrender, the barbarians at the door trying to steal away their crown.

Unfriendly rivals: Dodgers, Padres about to go head-to-head with NL West at stake - The Orange County Register
When elite reliever Mason Miller went from the A’s to the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline, he found himself relocating into the most intense rivalry currently in MLB.

“They told me right away, ‘Obviously, we don’t like those guys a whole lot,’” Miller said in a post-trade podcast appearance of being indoctrinated by his new teammates. “I haven’t really had a rivalry to that extent. … Not a rivalry to the sense of, the Padres and the Dodgers. I’m excited to experience that.”

“I do think it’s one of those things where they’re very hyper-focused on us,” Roberts said. “But I guess it’s a compliment. Still, we’ve got to match their intensity because they want to beat us more than anything.”

If the dislike is mutual, the Dodgers do a much better job of hiding theirs. When told of Miller’s comment, Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw laughed.

“That’s fine,” the Hall-of-Fame-bound pitcher said. “I don’t feel any one way about them. I just want to win the division.

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