Mookie Betts dishes on 'aggressive' Padres fans overshadowing Dodgers' old rivals

While there isn't total consensus on the Padres being the Dodgers' primary rival — Max Muncy was adamant that you can only have one rival, and for the Dodgers it's the Giants — it's easily the prevailing sentiment, and you don't have to look any further than the two teams' regular season matchups this year to prove it.

The Dodgers-Padres rivalry is very clearly the most heated rivalry in baseball right now. There are others that have more history behind them, including Dodgers-Giants, but there's something different about LA's beef with San Diego, and vice versa.

They always seem to play their best baseball against each other. They hit each other, their managers jaw at each other (and sometimes even shove each other), benches clear. And this year, the Dodgers even managed to forfeit their NL West lead to the Pads a few times, which only added fuel to the fire.

In an interview with FanSided's Adam Weinrib, Mookie Betts weighed in on the Dodgers-Padres vs. Dodgers-Giants debate and came down on the side of the former. He said, "San Diego probably has more aggression toward the Dodgers. San Francisco...they just don't like the Dodgers. It's pure dislike. [...] I think San Diego is more like a hatred toward the Dodgers. [...] These people genuinely don't like us."

Mookie Betts confirms Dodgers-Giants rivalry has paled in comparison to Dodgers-Padres

The Padres really only started becoming a threat to the Dodgers in 2020, Betts' first year in LA, and the two teams have seen each other three times in the postseason since. The Dodgers have won two out of those three series (and both led to a championship for LA), while Padres fans cling to their 2022 NLDS victory and are still waiting for their franchise's first ever trophy.

Maybe it's an inferiority complex that keeps the Dodgers at the top of mind for Padres players — trade deadline acquisition Mason Miller said that one of the first things his new teammates told him when he arrived in San Diego was that they didn't like the Dodgers — but the Padres clearly get under the Dodgers' skin, too.

A Dodgers-Padres NLCS is highly unlikely, but if it does happen, no doubt it'll be incredible theater for both teams.