Trevor Hoffman hits the nail on the head with perfect take on Dodgers-Padres rivalry

Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman hasn't been a Padre since 2008, but Dodgers fans are still glad that he's not in the NL West anymore. His 2.92 lifetime ERA against the Dodgers is only marginally worse than the 2.87 ERA that got him into Cooperstown in 2018, and he saw the Dodgers more than any other opposing team in his career. Through 100 games, LA's hitters logged a .231 average and .642 OPS against him, and he only blew four (four!) saves against them in his entire career.

The Padres-Dodgers rivalry has been percolating for years but wasn't quite what it is today when Hoffman was still a Padre; he never faced the Dodgers in the postseason. However, he's remained close to the organization since he retired after the 2010 season and has been able to witness the rise of the rivalry firsthand.

"I think it's a healthy rivalry," Hoffman said at the National Sports Card Convention, per FanSided's Adam Weinrib." It's been pretty well-documented that they don't consider us much of a rival, but I know from those south of Los Angeles, we take it pretty serious."

Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman weighed in on growing Dodgers-Padres rivalry

No matter what Max Muncy says, Dodgers fans have to give to Hoffman: there's no room for doubt that the Padres are our rivals. The last time they saw each other in mid-June, there was a little bit of everything — pointed hit-by-pitches, manager ejections, benches clearing. The only thing fans didn't get to see was a punch actually being thrown, though there were some guys on both sides who looked all too eager to turn one of those games into a cage match.

Even if Dodgers players dismiss the idea and fans can still laugh at AJ Preller for selling his entire farm system for a reliever with a 3.50+ ERA at the deadline — and has always done stuff like that, to no avail and no World Series rings — everyone has to admit that the Padres and their fans get under Dodgers' fans skin like no one else, and San Diego creeping up onto the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is at least a little bit worrisome.

Dodgers fans aren't really going to take the Padres seriously (at least in a public-facing way) until they win a World Series — and even then, who knows? But there's just no argument that these two teams play some of their best and most exciting baseball against each other, and that has to do with elevated tensions from the rivalry.