The Southern California rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres has developed into one of the most fiery and hostile in MLB over the past few seasons. Both teams have superstars on their roster, high payrolls, are loaded with talent and, most importantly, are targeting the World Series.
On Saturday, tensions boiled over when a high and tight pitcher to Padres outfielder’ Jurickson Profar seemed to ruffle some feathers. Dodgers’ pitcher Gavin Stone didn’t seem to do much wrong but it was enough to irk the Padres with the benches and bullpens clearing.
For baseball standards, this was a relatively tame bench clearing incident. One aspect that was notable was Manny Machado. The six-time All-Star was quick to defend his teammate but before going out on to the field, made it a point to make sure he had his fill of sunflower seeds.
Things get heated between the Dodgers and Padres. Benches cleared, bullpens emptied. No love lost between these two division rivals.
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) April 14, 2024
Dodgers play-by-play commentators Joe Davis and Eric Karros saw the funny side and had a little fun at Machado’s expense.
“Manny gonna make sure he gets that one more thing of sunflower seeds,” said Karros during the broadcast. ”This is high intensity. I always see that in a boxing match or MMA fights. Let me eat some sunflower seeds before I go out there.”
Both teams eventually went back to their dugouts and the game continued with the Los Angeles Dodgers edging the contest 5-2 to improve to 11-6 on the season. The San Diego Padres are second in the National League West with a 8-9 record.
