Walker Buehler is set to face the Los Angeles Dodgers again on Saturday, this time as the San Diego Padres starter at Petco Park. It is his second meeting with his old club, and it arrives with the rivalry tilted hard toward Los Angeles in the standings.
The Dodgers entered 52-29, first in the NL West and carrying a nine-game division lead, the kind of cushion that changes how much one game can swing for them. The Padres came in at 42-37, still only a half-game behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s No. 3 wild-card spot, which means the same matchup carries a different weight for each side: a division race in one dugout, a postseason chase in the other.
That difference is why the search interest around Dodgers vs Padres is centered on Buehler now. He allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision against San Diego last year, and this time he arrives with a stronger run of form than his season line might suggest. Buehler has allowed one run in each of his last four starts, though he has just three quality starts in 15 outings this year. The Padres have won three of his last four starts, a reminder that even when he has been sharp, their side has found ways to stay in the game.
San Diego’s recent form is what keeps this from feeling like a routine spot start. The Padres swept the Braves and have won six of their last 10 games, with Fernando Tatis Jr. on an 18-game on-base streak and leading the club with an.854 OPS in June. Manny Machado has provided the power with four homers this month, Wandy Peralta has not allowed a run in 13 1/3 innings, and Jason Adam saved Wednesday’s game even though he has also allowed six runs in 9 1/3 innings in June. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have baseball’s best record and run differential at 144, and they took two of three from San Diego in May, but the gap between the clubs is not the same thing as a dead rivalry.
There is also a hard edge to the pitching setup behind Buehler. Randy Vásquez’s start was bumped from Wednesday to Saturday, a move that gave San Diego extra rest after a six-start slump in which he posted a 6.91 ERA while walking 12 and allowing seven homers over 27 1/3 innings. Roki Sasaki is facing the Padres for the first time since choosing the Dodgers over San Diego during the 2025 international signing period, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto enters with quality starts in five of his last six outings but a 4.97 ERA in five regular-season starts against San Diego. Emmet Sheehan has also had trouble holding the ball in the air, with a career-high 1.9 homers per nine innings, while Michael King is coming off his first win in more than a month.
That leaves Buehler as the most watchable piece of the night: a former Dodgers arm pitching against the club that developed him, with the Padres trying to turn current momentum into standings pressure and the Dodgers trying to keep the gap from feeling closer than it is. If Buehler keeps the ball down again, San Diego gets a real chance to keep the rivalry alive; if he does not, the Dodgers’ lead looks even sturdier than the record already says it is.
