This story was excerpted from Juan Toribio’s Dodgers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LOS ANGELES -- It was a crucial homestand for the Dodgers, who seem to have found their identity following back-to-back sweeps of the Cardinals and Phillies, two teams that made the postseason in 2022.

The Dodgers, even without J.D. Martinez, showed what type of offense they can be moving forward. On the pitching side, Julio Urías had an important bounce-back performance and the bullpen is finally starting to take shape with Evan Phillips, Caleb Ferguson and Brusdar Graterol becoming integral pieces.

But as good of a homestand as the Dodgers just completed, now is when the fun starts. The Dodgers are set to start a three-game series against the Padres on Friday at Petco Park. A week later, the Dodgers will host the Padres in Los Angeles for another three-game series.

Though it’s only May, these two series are being magnified by both sides. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at what the Dodgers did this past week. Instead of starting Dustin May on Wednesday and keeping him on regular rest, the Dodgers called up Gavin Stone for a spot start and pushed May back to the weekend so he could be available to start against the Padres.

The Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw, May and Urías scheduled to pitch this weekend, and there’s a good chance the Padres will see at least two – if not all three – next weekend at Dodger Stadium. The Padres, on the other hand, also lined up their rotation with Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell going this weekend and next.

The Dodgers remain the team to beat in the National League West, but the Padres continue to make strides with deeper pockets than usual.

Layer in the fact that the Padres eliminated, arguably, the best Dodgers team of all-time in the first round of the playoffs last season and the rivalry is certainly picking up.

With all that being said, how do the two teams stack up against each other heading into their first meeting of the season? Pretty evenly, actually.

The Dodgers will get a good look at right-handers Musgrove and Darvish. So far this season, the Dodgers have been much better against right-handed pitching, leading the NL with a .835 OPS. With Mookie Betts playing more shortstop against righties, the Dodgers have been able to go with an outfield of Jason Heyward, James Outman and David Peralta, making it tougher on opposing pitchers.

Against left-handers, however, the Dodgers have struggled. The Dodgers rank 22nd in OPS against southpaws, making it difficult against Snell, who has had a slow start but has always pitched well against Los Angeles.

On the other side, the Padres will face lefties Kershaw and Urías. That’ll be a tough matchup for the two southpaws, because the Padres rank sixth in the NL with a .761 OPS against lefties. Against righties, the Padres rank 19th in OPS, giving May a better matchup.

These two teams appear to be headed for a season-long collision course. It all starts this weekend in San Diego. Buckle up.