Dodgers, Will Smith might've woken up Jurickson Profar with heavy trolling

If the curse of making fun of Clayton Kershaw is real for Dodgers' rivals, then it'd only be fair (fair, but not fun) if the opposite were true of players the Dodgers get in scuffs with, and who fans then proceed to dogpile on top of.

The Dodgers don't seem to brawl very often — or, at least, not to the degree that will get them onto those "10 best brawls in recent history" compilations on TikTok — but they seemed to get close to one on April 13 during a match against the Padres, when Gavin Stone missed his spot and a fastball got too close to Jurickson Profar for his liking.

Will Smith was quick to stand up for his pitcher, and the two exchanged words that had both dugouts emptying. No one threw a punch and no one was ejected, but when the Dodgers went on to win the game, Smith fanned the flames by calling Profar "irrelevant."

Profar seems be letting it fuel him in the weeks since. On Wednesday, he went 4-4 with an RBI against the Reds to give the Padres the lead.

Jurickson Profar is on a hot streak for the Padres after dustup with Dodgers and Will Smith

Profar has batted .380/.458/.540 in his last 15 games, and a ridiculous .519/.552/.815 over his last seven, with two home runs and 11 RBI since the incident with the Dodgers. He's also (unfortunately) been one of the best things about the Padres' lineup since April 13; they've gone 8-10 since then, with a five-game losing streak that began with an embarrassing come-from-behind victory for the Rockies and ended on Tuesday against the Reds, when Profar had a three-hit day.

He's played in every game since Opening Day and still has the best hitting stats of any Padre by far, as Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado all struggle to produce at the plate. He was also responsible for the game-winning, bases-clearing double that won the Padres their third game against the Dodgers and won them that very same, troll-filled series.

Smith's comments, as hilarious as they were, were certainly out of pocket, and it's easy to see how any player could take something like that and turn it into fuel. San Diego is still saddled with a losing record and are 4.5 games behind the Dodgers, but maybe less trash-talking the next time something like this happens would be wise.