Jose Altuve's ridiculous dominance of Dodgers hit a disgusting new level this weekend

There’s a long list of players who could be classified as “Dodgers killers.” Christian Walker. Yu Darvish. Blake Snell (before he became a Dodger). 

But after this weekend, none of them can compare to Jose Altuve. 

Altuve, a longtime Astro who has had plenty of big moments against Los Angeles, put together what might be the best series of his career against the Dodgers over the weekend in Houston’s sweep at Dodgers Stadium.

Jose Altuve's ridiculous dominance of Dodgers hit a disgusting new level this weekend

Altuve helped lead the Astros on that sweep by going 6-for-11 with three home runs and seven RBI. His last home run came in the ninth inning on Sunday and served as the dagger in a listless weekend for the Dodgers.

After this weekend, Altuve now has a .955 OPS in 26 regular season games against the Dodgers, which is the third-highest OPS he has against a franchise. In total, he has five home runs, 12 RBI, eight doubles and three triples across those 26 games. 

Altuve first became public enemy No. 1 in Los Angeles in 2017 when he helped lead the Astros to a World Series title over the Dodgers in seven games. While that championship now has an asterisk due to the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, Altuve still had a huge impact in the series.

He crushed a go-ahead home run in the tenth inning of Game 2 of that series and then went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in Houston’s Game 5 win.

Altuve’s performance this weekend harkened back to that Fall Classic, as his production helped the Astros pick up their first sweep at Dodger Stadium since 2008. 

On Friday, Altuve went 3-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI in Houston’s 18-1 beatdown. On Saturday, Altuve went 1-for-4, though his one hit was a triple. That set up Sunday’s showing, where Altuve went 2-for-4 with that aforementioned home run. 

In total, Altuve’s .955 OPS against the Dodgers is the fourth-highest mark by an active player against Los Angeles behind David Villar, CJ Abrams and Kyle Schwarber. 

Altuve’s dominance against the Dodgers shouldn’t come as a surprise. While the stink of the sign-stealing scandal will forever be on him and the rest of the hitters on those Astros teams, he’s a former MVP who has won seven Silver Sluggers and three batting titles. In fact, he has an OPS of .750 or better against 22 of 30 teams in MLB. 

The Dodgers aren’t alone in being dominated by Altuve, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting a little more after how everything went in the 2017 postseason. 

A lot has changed since that World Series, but Altuve is still the same hitter. The Dodgers got a firsthand look at that over the weekend.