Padres Boss Aiming to Get to Dodgers Level

San Diego Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is aiming to get to the Los Angeles Dodgers' level, where a three-peat seems possible for the back-to-back World Series champions.

Preller praised the rival franchise for keeping the standard in the National League West extremely high, and his remarks evidently highlight the Padres' desire to meet the Dodgers where they're at in 2026 and beyond.

“I think it’s good to have teams that are elite, that are kind of setting the pace and having a lot of other teams that can go ahead and play at that level,” Preller said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We look at it in the NL West: you’ve got to be really good to come out of there. It’s made us better over the last few years, and it makes the league better, honestly. ...

“It’s a good challenge for us. It’s something that we’re looking forward to seeing if we can get to that level.”

The Dodgers have showed their dominance early in 2026, beginning the season with a three-game sweep over the Arizona Diamondbacks. While the defending champs completely dominated the opening weekend, the rest of the NL West went 1-10.

The one other win in the division other than the Dodgers? None other than the Padres.

Thanks to six shutout innings from Randy Vásquez and a Padres lineup that made their two hits count, the Friars earned a 3-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Vásquez has quickly become the backbone of the starting rotation as his strong spring performance translated into a scoreless 2026 debut. However, the Padres will need much more from that rotation if they want to get anywhere near the Dodgers' level. The Dodgers leaned on their rotation through the 2025 postseason, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto ultimately winning World Series MVP.

Only time will tell whether the Padres have inched closer to the Dodgers this season as the Friars kept the race for the NL West close down the stretch last season. Perhaps, the Padres could do that and more in 2026.

There's one person who is confident the franchise can be a legitimate threat to the Dodgers.

Walker Buehler, who joined the Padres on a minor league deal this offseason, made a telling statement about how he believes the team will fare against their division rivals this season.

“I remember being on the other side of it and how big of a threat San Diego has been,” Buehler said to the Tribune. “Being in this uniform, [I’m] hoping to kind of add to that. [The Dodgers have] had a ton of success and have done a lot of things really well, but I’m excited about what we have here as well. Looking forward to a good year.”

Buehler would know better than most how the Dodgers perceive the Padres, given he spent the first seven seasons of his career with the team. Now, he's looking to help the Padres reach the next level this season.

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