At the outset of play July 4, the San Diego Padres were coming off a 2-4 trip through Cincinnati and Philadelphia and trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers by nine games in the NL West.

Dodgers and Padres kick off a high-stakes 3-game series with just one game separating them in the NL-West standings.

Nick Pivetta allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings and Ramón Laureano had three of the Padres’ 14 hits as San Diego completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with an 11-1 rout.

The San Diego Padres have taken sole possession of the NL West heading into their showdown with the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. Mookie Betts joins the show. The Good, The Bad and The Uggla has burgers, bets and a Bob. Jake and Jordan discuss all of this and more to close out your week on Baseball Bar-B-Cast.

The Dodgers have quelled plenty of challengers during their reign in the division, but the Padres have shown enough staying power to fuel increasingly contentious bouts.

Darvish hasn't needed his bat since the National League adopted the designated hitter rule permanently in 2022. But he still warms up left-handed on occasion, as evidenced by this video posted to Twitter/X on Tuesday by Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla:

The workers, who unionized last year, are ramping up the pressure during contract negotiations that have stalled over wages and benefits.