Dodgers: What a successful series with San Diego looks like

The Dodgers need a rebound, and the fourth-place San Diego Padres are on tap. But not so fast, the Padres may still have some fight in them yet.

Just because they’ve been a walkover at times this season, the team down a few hours south of Chavez Ravine still could provide some challenges to a slumping Dodger team.

With righty mashers galore, an above-average defense and some solid young arms in the rotation, the Boys in Blue can use this series as a tuneup and confidence builder, but only if they correct some of their mistakes from the internationally-viewed Yankees series.

On offense, the Dodgers will need to hit lefty starters, or starters in general, which means improving the performance of their righty-heavy lineup and Bellinger will have to snap out of his cold spell. And on the pitching side, the team just needs to keep on chugging, while potentially experimenting with different pitch mixes at the pitcher-friendly anti-homer haven that is Petco Park.

In this article, I’ll go through each obstacle San Diego will place in LA’s path, and how the Dodgers can stay true to their name and avoid being tripped up on their way to a seventh-straight NL West title.