The San Diego Padres are facing the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time since their painful National League Division Series elimination last October, with players focused on moving forward rather than seeking revenge.
The Padres lost the final two games of that series and failed to score for 24 straight innings to end their 2024 season.
While fans may still feel the sting from last year's playoffs, outfielder Jackson Merrill wasted no time looking ahead.
"You gotta move on, the next day for me. You can sit there and say a bunch of things about how we lost, why we lost, but you just gotta move on. I was looking forward to the next year as soon as we lost," Merrill told ABC 10News from the Padres clubhouse ahead of Monday's series opener.
Reliever Jeremiah Estrada also remembers the disappointment but is keeping the rivalry in perspective.
"I think my younger self would have been, like 'revenge, revenge, you want this,' but it's a very humbling game. At the end of the day, it's what we can do with our ability with the best stuff that we have against the best stuff that they have," Estrada said.
Tyler Wade shared similar sentiments about moving past the playoff defeat.
"That one hurt. I don't really remember how long it took (to get over the loss). I didn't watch the playoffs after that, but yeah, it's a fresh start. New team on both sides and I think we're both looking forward to it," Wade said.
The Padres enter the series just one game behind the Dodgers in the standings but are struggling offensively, averaging less than 3.5 runs over their past 16 games. Merrill remains confident that the team's offense will improve soon.
"Sometimes baseball is slow. But you've got to expect that we're going to heat up at some point. We're just sitting here, ready to go, and at some point, it's going to burst open. We've just got to be patient," Merrill said.
After Monday's game, the Padres and Dodgers meet again tomorrow night and Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, followed by four more matchups next Monday through Thursday at Dodger Stadium, making this one of the most crucial stretches of the first half of the season for both teams.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
