Dodgers-Padres: A battle for the West and a preview of the postseason

Jack Harris covers the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times. Before that, he covered the Angels, the Kings and just about everything else the LA sports scene had to offer. The Phoenix native originally interned at the Times before joining the team in 2019.

Bill Plaschke, a sports columnist for the LA Times since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and the California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national sports columnist of the year nine times by the Associated Press and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns titled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on ESPN’s popular daily talk show “Around the Horn.” He is a member of the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and was named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He is also the recipient of a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke appeared in a movie (“Ali”) and a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”), and in a cultural high point he still doesn’t fully understand, his name appears in a rap song: “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

Dylan Hernández is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He was previously a sportswriter for the Dodgers. Hernandez grew up in South Pasadena and graduated from UCLA in 2002. He then worked for the San Jose Mercury News for five years.

Mark E. Potts is senior video editor for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Oklahoma, Potts earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Oklahoma. He has created and edited videos for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.