Jurickson Profar put together a career season in 2024, but made little impact for the San Diego Padres as they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
Profar’s biggest contribution was robbing Mookie Betts of a solo home run in the first inning of Game 2. He nearly repeated the feat on an eerily similar play in Game 3, but had the ball skip off his glove.
Profar otherwise was in headlines during the NLDS for his run-in with Dodgers fans.
Following the Padres’ shutout loss in Game 5, Profar refused to attribute any of the team’s offensive struggles to Dodgers pitchers but did give them credit for outperforming San Diego after falling into a 2-1 series deficit, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic:
“We did a lot of unusual things,” Jurickson Profar said. “We don’t want to give credit either, you know, to their pitching. We just didn’t come through.
“Just sad for this team. We had everything to go all the way. But, you know, it’s baseball. Baseball. They played better than us the last two games. And we’re going home.”
Profar started in left field and hit third in the Padres lineup for each of the five NLDS games. He went a combined 4-for-21 with one run scored, three walks and three strikeouts against the Dodgers.
Profar was held hitless and struck out once in Game 5. The Padres as a team mustered just two hits in their elimination loss — both of which were one-out singles off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning.
They did set the table for Fernando Tatis Jr. in a pivotal moment, which saw the Padres star ground into an inning-ending double play.
Dodgers pitchers held the Padres to 24 consecutive scoreless innings to close out the NLDS.
Jurickson Profar’s history with Dodgers
Back in April, Will Smith made pointed remarks about Profar after the two had exchanged words over a pitch that was up in and in.
“I don’t know what his deal was. He thought we were trying to throw at him. I don’t know why we would’ve thrown at him. He’s kind of irrelevant. But I don’t know. He started mouthing off and everybody came out. I don’t know why he was throwing such a big deal about that.”
“I don’t know what his deal was. He thought we were trying to throw at him,” Smith said after the Dodgers’ win. “I don’t know why we would’ve thrown at him. He’s kind of irrelevant.
“But I don’t know. He started mouthing off and everybody came out. I don’t know why he was throwing such a big deal about that.”
Manny Machado took exception to the remark and defended his teammate, who is among the players that has contributed to a perception of the Padres as being a team that embraces a villain-like persona.
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