LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers began the season as a sweat-inducing nightmare in blue, a collection of talent so deep that it tongue-tied those around the game who tried to explain the mother lode.

This was an absurd $1 billion runaway freight train, creative accounting aside, that greedily gobbled up Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

That was plopped on top of gems Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who kept alive a run of 10 National League West championships in 11 seasons.

So why have the Padres felt as comfortable as well-worn jeans around a team built to wreak baseball terror this season? Why is a team constructed with a mind-numbing level of largesse actually a good matchup for them?

Because ... things change.

Because baseball rewards those who play it in a winning way rather than simply the ones who invest the gross domestic product of Trinidad and Tobago.

Because these are not the Padres of old.

Because the Dodgers' starting pitching is nowhere close to what the season promised.

Because baseball bends things that can seem like certainties and inevitabilities to its mischievous will.

As the teams lined up on a crisp Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, an NL West title that had felt all but cemented remained wet and unpredictably wild.

The Padres screamed through the standings since the All-Star break like a McLaren on the Autobahn to make the final handful of games in September enormously meaningful.

They also convinced many along the way that the Dodgers are not a matchup that demands a bucket of antacids, but just might be the team they want to see in the playoffs after all.

"It's big energy," Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. said. "Big energy all the way around. You know, everybody knows how good a team we're facing. But everybody knows how good we are."

"... Just the team that we have, the confidence that this group has shown since Day 1. I think that really matters a lot."

They wrapped up the season series uber-early, bringing a 7-3 record between the clubs to Chavez Ravine. They are no longer the pestering upstart of even a few seasons back, but a real threat.

A run to the 2022 NL Championship Series, which ran over the Dodgers, offered a taste. A season ago signaled a raw step backward.

The spice returned, and Tuesday added the delicious timing only late September can.

"I think last year they definitely didn't live up to their ability, the talent they had," Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor said of the Padres. "This year, they're doing a better job. They've gotten some guys that have really stepped up and contributed for them that maybe weren't expected to.

"(Rookie center fielder) Jackson Merrill's been a huge addition and then the guy starting for them tonight, (Michael) King has been outstanding all year. I'm sure there's other guys you could name as well."

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts framed things with more edge.

"I expect us to just come out with some vigor and fight, intensity," Roberts said. "... We're trying to win the division, so we're trying to put these guys to bed."

That started early on Tuesday.

Otherworldly slugger Ohtani laced a ground-rule double to right field on the game's first pitch. When a bouncer to shortstop by Betts followed, an overthrow by Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts led to a quick run.

The Padres defused what could have been a huge inning, momentarily stemming the bleeding, when Teoscar Hernandez attempted to steal second with Betts on third.Catcher Kyle Higashioka's throw led to a rundown option. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth fired to Manny Machado at third, where they erased Betts scrambling back.

Importance-rich baseball was off to the races.

"It's very important, but at the same time just go out and have fun and play the baseball that we've been playing for the last couple months," Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar said.

You could feel the Padres walking the tightrope between acknowledging all this season has become, the nagging roadblock the Dodgers always present and being realistic about how different this team feels.

Instead of the Dodgers delivering a fatal blow early ­ -- something that would have been a mountain too tall most times a season ago -- they showed the type of low blood pressure required to answer.

That came in the form of a two-run homer to right by Cronenworth that allowed the Padres to surge in front 2-1 in the second. When the Dodgers loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with two outs and Betts coming to the plate, King struck him out.

The Padres made it 3-1 when Bogaerts cashed in on Profar's leadoff double in the fourth and Cronenworth tacked on another run with a two-out double.

"We have to match that intensity," Roberts said. "I think the talent is similar in both clubhouses and then it's kind of who wants it more."

More than anything, the Dodgers are not as advertised in the spring because their starting pitching is hanging on by a thread.

Glasnow is gone. Injuries swallowed up Dustin May and Gavin Stone, while Tommy John surgery is delaying Tony Gonsolin. Clayton Kershaw remains banged up. Walker Buehler and Tuesday starter Landon Knack have been inconsistent.

The Padres' rotation, meanwhile, has grown into a beast and the offense is among the most productive in baseball behind elite contact and the least strikeouts in the game.

"On paper, it's quite different (from the spring)," said Joe Musgrove, the Padres' projected starter for Game 3 of the series. "I don't feel like we're taking them any lighter because of their injuries or because of the production we've gotten. This is a dangerous team."

So the thought of a matchup in October, when seasons depend on it, has become an aromatic brew indeed.

Spring nightmares are not always those of the fall.