“Perfect Sweet Revenge On Dodgers” – The San Diego Padres Has Enact a Sweet Revenge On Their Biggest Rivals LA Dodgers By Signing Their Most Famous and Experience Player In Free Agency to a Mega Two Years Contract

The San Diego Padres fell just short of defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 postseason. The Padres were the closest the league saw to defeating the mighty Dodgers in the postseason, as Los Angeles swept the New York Mets and New York Yankees in the NLCS and World Series, respectively.

Now the Padres have an offseason to enhance their roster and dethrone the Dodgers in 2025. However, it will be a difficult battle, since the Dodgers will improve in 2025 merely by becoming healthier. By opening day, Los Angeles will have Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, and Tyler Glasnow fully healthy on the mound.

What can the Padres do to address this?

Signing Walker Buehler is seen as the Padres’ ‘perfect transaction’ this winter.

The Padres need to add a starting pitcher to round out their rotation, especially one with a high upside. They already boast a strong pitching staff, including Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish, and Michael King. However, after watching Joe Musgrove suffer an arm injury in the postseason, San Diego needs to recruit more players, preferably at a low cost.

ESPN expert Jeff Passan recently investigated some of the best fits in the league, connecting a variety of clubs to moves that fit their organization. When he arrived in San Diego, he agreed that they needed to add a pitcher, but he chose one in particular: Los Angeles Dodgers World Series hero Walker Buehler.

“Getting Sasaki would alleviate a potential salary problem, but if that doesn’t happen and they can’t agree on a big-name trade, there are enough choices in free agency to fully fill out the rotation. Passan wrote that one of them would only need to go 120 kilometres down the 5.

Buehler to San Diego would be quite a story. Going from one loathed opponent to the other in the sport’s second most intense rivalry would make for an interesting villain story. Many insiders and analysts expect Buehler to return to Los Angeles in 2025, but with the Dodgers just signing May to a one-year contract, that appears unlikely.

If Buehler does end up elsewhere, the Padres may provide the perfect Hollywood finale to the Padres-Dodgers tale that has been going on for years. The righty struggled last year while recovering from another arm injury, but he found his groove down the line, which bodes well for a successful 2025 season.