Padres @ Dodgers September 23, 2026: Ohtani returns to the lineup with Dodgers looking to clinch first-round bye, De Paula optioned to OKC

Alex Campos 09/23/2026 Game Threads Leave A Comment

The Dodgers (97-60) beat the Padres (87-70) in dominant fashion yesterday, winning 7-0 while using a bullpen game against Padres’ ace Michael King. Most of the damage off King came in the second, where King got the first two outs relatively easily before giving up back-to-back singles and completely losing command. He hit Andy Pages to load the bases, and then issued back-to-back walks on nine pitches to Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers their first two runs. He threw a first-pitch strike to Freddie Freeman, who plated two on a single for a four-run inning. They added some more runs late and eight pitchers combined to allow five hits and two walks over nine shutout innings. Roki Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski both took down an inning, but Kyle Hurt was the lone Dodger to pitch more than an inning. The win, coupled with a Reds win over Atlanta shrinks the Dodgers’ Magic Number to clinch a top-2 seed and first-round bye down to one. One win in their last four games or one Atlanta loss gives the Dodgers the bye (Atlanta is down 1-0 as I’m scheduling this post), and the one-seed in still in play (one game back of Milwaukee entering play today, but Milwaukee is up 4-1 right now)). Today, the Dodgers look for another series win and to clinch that all-important bye in game two against the Padres.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball for almost certainly the final time this regular season. He’s coming off a gem in Cincinnati, where he allowed one hit and two walks over seven shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.51 on the season. Yamamoto will almost definitely be the only Dodger pitcher to have enough innings to qualify (can Wrobo pitch 30ish innings in the next five days?) and has the third-best ERA in the NL, eighth-best strikeout rate (26.1 percent) and fifth-best walk rate (6 percent). Yamamoto’s completed seven innings in each of his last three starts, and considering the bullpen usage last night that could be the goal for this start. Everyone but Kris Bubic, Evan Phillips and Tanner Scott was used last night and Brock Stewart, Blake Treinen and Jack Dreyer were the only pitchers that threw fewer than 20 pitches last night, so expect them to try to get Yamamoto deep into the game. He’s only failed to complete six innings in three of his 27 starts this season and has completed seven innings in two of his three starts against the Padres this season. He took a loss in San Diego earlier this season despite giving up one run on three hits over seven innings. He gave up a homer to the second batter of the game (Miguel Andujar), but the Dodgers were blanked by King and the San Diego bullpen for a 1-0 loss. He faced San Diego in back-to-back starts and got the win both times. He got the win in San Diego on June 27, where he allowed two runs and five hits over six solid innings and the Dodgers put up 15 runs. The next time out in LA, Yamamoto threw seven shutout with three hits and a season-high 10 strikeouts.

Lefty Robbie Ray makes his 31st appearance (30 starts) of the season and his ninth start since joining the Padres at the deadline. Ray had a 3.08 ERA in 122 2/3 innings for the Giants, but has a 5.22 in 39 2/3 innings as a Padre. He’s really struggled in September, giving up 13 runs in 13 1/3 innings over three starts this month. He gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Yankees to start the month and followed it up with a five-run outing in San Francisco. He did bounce back with a quality start last time out at Coors, giving up three runs over six innings against the Rockies. Ray had 107 strikeouts and 57 walks as a Giant this season, but only has 31 strikeouts with 26 walks allowed with the Padres. Ray leads baseball with 83 walks and had the most walks in the NL last season (73), so that’s nothing really new for him. Ray’s only seen the Dodgers once this season and failed to get out of the fifth inning, giving up three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. After posting zeros in the first two innings, the Dodgers struck in the third on back-to-back homers by Santiago Espinal and Betts to start the inning. They added two more in the fourth on a double and RBI single by Teoscar Hernandez, who moved to second on a passed ball, got to third on a single and scored on a sac fly for an unearned run on Ray.

Shohei Ohtani makes his return to the lineup, hitting second today with Betts leading off. Dave Roberts said yesterday they could hit Mookie leadoff against lefties and Ohtani against righties, so they’re doing that today. Outside of that, this is the most normal lineup the Dodgers have had in a minute.

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A couple roster moves were made. Ohtani is back and Tarik Skubal is back off the bereavement list. Hurt was optioned after his two innings last night, and Josue De Paula was optioned to OKC.

The De Paula demotion is dumb as hell but also makes a bit of sense. Optioning him today make his 10 day timer run out in time for him to be recalled for Game 1 of the NLDS. They’re also still expecting Dalton Rushing to be activated before the season ends so if they were going to be bringing him back as a second DH only lefty bat, I guess I can sort of see the justification for it..

It’s crazy to be this annoyed about a roster move for literally Shohei Ohtani to return, but De Paula was unreal in his first taste of the majors. JDP reached base in 10 of the 11 games he appeared in (ironically the only one he didn’t was when they let him lead off) and drew 11 walks with only five strikeouts. The energy he brought to the team was also apparent and extremely needed at this point in the season, so losing his presence (even if his playing time was about to be cut with Ohtani DHing and Kyle Tucker and Teo being good again) stings. It makes a tiny bit of sense for these final five games of the season, but there’s really no defense for him to be left off the playoff roster if it comes to that.

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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.

About Alex Campos

I've been writing about the Dodgers since I graduated from Long Beach State, where I covered the Dirtbags in my senior year. I'm either very good or very bad at puns.
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