LOS ANGELES — Finally, we got to see the surging Padres go against a good team.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a world apart from the stumblebums and mediocrities the Padres have been feasting on of late.

And with the playoffs looming, the series opener Tuesday night here felt more important than just one of 162 games.

On cue, the game got off to a spicy start.

Dodgers pitcher Brock Stewart buzzed Manny Machado with a first-inning, first-pitch fastball, sending him to the dirt and dislodging his helmet.

Machado seemed eager to feed off the close call.

As he lie on the ground, while cheers were easily heard, Machado nodded his head vigorously several times.

Then he grounded out. Stay tuned for a rematch. Perhaps it comes in October.

Now for the big picture.

Due to San Diego’s turnaround, the Padres-Dodgers dynamic has become a lot more interesting since the teams’ previous matchup on July 5.

If only because, back then, it was almost dead

The Padres are responsible for most of the renewed sparkle.

They’ve improved more than any other National League team since they exited L.A. with a 44-45 record.

They went into Tuesday an NL-best 43-24.

Look at the before and afters.

The “bad” Padres stood last in runs scored and batting average; 27th in starting-pitching ERA and 22nd in home runs over the nearly 90 games.

The “good” Padres placed third in runs scored, 10th in starting-pitching ERA and seventh in home runs in the nearly 80 games.

How did this happen?

The “baseball card” track records, proving Machado right, began to show up.

A positive regression boom provided the offense a strong tailwind.

Fernando Tatis Jr. found his power stroke, hitting 20 home runs.

Jackson Merrill went on an all-around offensive heater by moving his hands forward a tad and leaning into his athleticism.

The 23-year-old, recovering from the worst first half of his three-year career, has batted .308 with 16 home runs and a .905 OPS since July 6

Machado, 34, was hitting for power and drawing walks. But he was batting .190.

Tweaked his form to good effect, he has batted .256 with 10 home runs since July 6.

Ty France joined the party.

Already having a fine season, he has gone on a career-best tear, batting .344 with 11 home runs, a .410 on-base percentage and a .972 OPS.

A.J. Preller, Craig Stammen and staff earned their paychecks, too, helping to rescue the season.

Preller traded for starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Casey Mize.

Despite their struggles, they’ve provided desperately needed innings to the starting rotation.

Along with providing the four minor leaguers prospects to get Ray and Mize, the farm system graduated catcher Ethan Salas, who hit a walk-off single and has earned the trust of 2025 ace Nick Pivetta.

And lefty hitter/corner outfielder Dustin Harris, since coming up from the Pacific Coast League last month, has locked up the No. 2 spot by batting .353 with five extra-base hits in about 70 at-bats.

Stammen and his pitching coaches, meantime, teamed up with Preller and staff to create a matchup-heavy approach to pitching, fortifying the rotation over a crucial two-week stretch when it appeared Preller might have to sell, rather than buy, at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

“The goal of every season is that you get better as the season goes,” Stammen said Tuesday, before L.A. took a 4-0 lead against ace Michael King, whose accuracy was off. “And there are peaks and valleys throughout that. But, you want to be trending in the right direction at the end.”

Compared with their previous visit to L.A., when they stood seventh in the wild-card race, the Padres now hold an inside track to the postseason.

Now, we’ll see what three games against the Dodgers tell us about the Padres’ progress.