Joe Musgrove on Padres' Struggles vs. Dodgers: 'Tired of Hearing That S--t'

For San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, the narrative that his team still can't compete with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers is getting old.

The Dodgers have won four of the five games the two ballclubs have played this season, and when asked about this, Musgrove made it clear that he was "tired of hearing that s--t."

"I think we, as a group in here, got to stop talking about these guys like they're that unbeatable force," Musgrove said, according to Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com. "We beat these guys in the playoffs; we beat them in big situations. We're just not playing very well right now."

It appeared the Padres had solved their woes against their neighbors that are just 114 miles north last season. They took out the top-seeded Dodgers in the 2022 NLDS and added shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the offseason. This, combined with the return of Fernando Tatís Jr., set the franchise up to finally eclipse the Dodgers.

Instead, it's been a slow start in San Diego, as the Padrers currently sit seven games behind the division-leading Dodgers and are 19-22 overall. Musgrove acknowledged that the team as a whole needs to step it up.

"We feel like we have a better team than them," Musgrove said. "We're just not playing to our capabilities right now on both sides of the ball.

"We're giving up timely hits to their hitters, we're not getting the timely hits on our side. Baseball's not that difficult of a sport. We know what needs to be done—we're just not doing what we need to do."

The Dodgers won 14 of 19 games between the two clubs last regular season and are on a good pace to take the season series once again after this year's schedule restructure.