Dodgers fans should be fueled by Buster Posey bringing rival Giants back to relevancy

Despite being mired in mediocrity for the last three seasons, the San Francisco Giants are still the number one rival of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sure, the San Diego Padres have been in the playoffs and competing for the NL West title in recent years. Games between the Dodgers and Padres have been intense, but as Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said this week, their true rivalry will always be with the Giants.

"The Padres bring everything that is in a rivalry, but you only have one rival," Muncy said on Foul Territory. "I don't like when people say you have rivals. If you have a rival, it's your counterpart. That's alway goin to be the Giants for the Dodgers."

Dodgers' true rival San Francisco Giants have returned to relevance in NL West

That is especially true this year, with the Giants surging back to relevancy and currently sitting just behind the first place Dodgers.

It's all thanks to former Giants All-Star catcher Buster Posey, who is now the team's President of Baseball Operations. Posey replaced former Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi and built a winning club in his first offseason.

Posey's influence on the Dodgers-Giants rivalry should only inspire a more passion and disdain from Dodgers fans towards San Francisco.

Dodgers fans hated Buster Posey when he was playing from 2009-2021. He was an MVP and the face of a dynasty for the Dodgers' biggest rival. Posey was also a Dodgers killer. He hit .293 with 19 home runs against them over the course of his career.

Posey's first career hit was a single against the Dodgers off of Jeff Weaver back in 2009. The final hit of his career was a double off of Corey Knebel in Game 5 of the 2021 NLDS. Posey batted .300 with a home run in that series.

Now, just a few years after hanging up the cleats, Posey has the Giants back in contention for an NL West title. He spent big money to land Willy Adames and Justin Verlander in the offseason and San Francisco has the second best team ERA in baseball and the best bullpen in the league.

Every good rivalry is better when the two teams involved are competitive. The Giants seem to have a bright future ahead of them thanks to Posey's leadership. It will be fun to watch the Dodgers battle with them for division titles and championships again.

We are about to get some meaningful games in September between the Dodgers and Giants again. The Dodgers will head to Oracle Park for a three-game series from September 12-14. Then, a week later, the Giants come to Dodger Stadium for a four-game series from September 18-21. Those matchups will almost certainly have playoff implications of some kind.

The Giants are going to continue spending and challenging the Dodgers for the top free agents on the market. This rivalry is all the way back. Dodgers fans should be fueled by Posey's continued presence in the NL West.