Dodgers vs. Padres National League Division Series schedule

It’s been nearly three weeks since the Dodgers knew they would play in the National League Division Series. Now they finally know their opponent. The Padres will come to Los Angeles for the NLDS, which begins on Tuesday, October 11 at Dodger Stadium.

Game 1 will start at 6:37 p.m. PT, and Game 2 begins at 5:37 p.m., with the entire series televised by FS1. The Dodgers and Padres occupy the late time slot for every game they play.

San Diego beat the Mets in the wild card round at Citi Field, two games to one, which earned them the right to play the Dodgers, who got a bye into the NLDS by virtue of having the best record in the National League.

Padres-Mets was the only one of the four wild card series to last the full three games.

The Division Series gives us a National League West matchup for a third straight season and for the fourth time in the last six years. The Dodgers dominated the rival Padres this season, winning all six series and 14 of 19 games. That doesn’t count for much in the playoffs, except for the home field advantage and extra rest Los Angeles earned by virtue of finishing with 22 more wins than San Diego during the regular season.

Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove started the three wild card games for the Padres, and won’t be available on regular rest until Games 2, 3, and 4, respectively, in the NLDS. None of that trio has started on three days rest in their careers.

The Dodgers have not yet named their Game 1 starter, but Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw, in some order, will start the first two games of the Division Series.

The Dodgers have home field advantage in the NLDS, which means the first two games, and potentially Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. One quirk of this year’s postseason schedule is due to the MLB lockout, which stretched into spring training and caused the regular season to both start and end late. Both the Division Series and League Championship Series rounds dropped a travel day.

But for an NLDS between teams separated by only 120 miles, having to play games on three consecutive days, should the series go the distance, isn’t as much of a burden with such a short trip between San Diego in Game 4 and Los Angeles in Game 5.

FS1 will televise the Dodgers-Padres NLDS.