LOS ANGELES – All the Giants do is beat the Dodgers.

Who woulda thunk it? Absolutely nobody who saw these teams interact last season or the season before. The Dodgers manhandled the Giants in 2024 and 2025 by winning 18 of 26 games and outscoring their northern counterparts by 34 runs.

While celebrating a couple of World Series titles along the way.

This year, mysteriously, the Giants are bullying the champs in the most unlikely ways.

On April 21, the Giants faced World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, rallied for three runs in the opening inning, and won 3-1.

On April 22, with the game scoreless entering the seventh, Patrick Bailey (of all people) blasted a three-run homer, and the Giants won 3-0.

Monday, the Giants drew six walks (stunning for a team that seemed to have forgotten the value of a base on balls), ran up the score with production throughout the lineup, and cruised 9-3.

Tuesday, No. 9 hitter Eric Haase, whose future with the Giants is uncertain because of an influx of young catchers, crushed two home runs off Yamamoto and nearly hit a third, and the Giants won another laugher 6-2.

That’s four wins in five games over the Dodgers, and one more would surpass last year’s total when the Giants went 4-9 against L.A. Their record in 2024, too.

“I just think the chemistry in the room now is what we were searching for a lot of the season — you can argue which pieces are to blame for that,” said Haase, who’s sharing catching duties with Jesús Rodríguez in Bailey’s absence, with Daniel Susac expected to rejoin the roster soon. “All we know is that it’s nice to finally feel that shift of momentum and energy. To do it in L.A. is big for the boys. That’s obviously what we’re going to try to keep building on.”

A major reason the Giants missed the playoffs last year was their terrible play against the top two National League West teams: a combined 7-19 vs. the Dodgers and Padres. Had the Giants split those games, their regular-season record would have been 87-75, and that’s playoff material.

So for the Giants to be taken seriously this summer, they need to step up against the Southern California teams. So far, so good: seven wins in 11 games. Not that it has resulted in a significant jolt in the standings; they’re still buried in the NL West, but it’s a start.

“We just want to be good in the division,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Those are teams you’re going to see the most so those numbers pile up a little higher. This is an important state we’re in with Major League Baseball, and of course the division. If you can hold your own in both those areas, it’ll probably play out where you can hold your own across the league.”

As the old adage for Giants fans goes, a bad season can be salvaged so long as the Giants beat L.A.

The four-game series between the rivals is midway in, and expect Vitello to continue drawing up different lineups. Tuesday, Bryce Eldridge was at first base with Casey Schmitt moving to third base and slumping Matt Chapman going to the bench.

The catcher was the 33-year-old journeyman Haase, who had played just five games this year and was down on the catching depth chart. Saturday’s trade that sent Bailey to Cleveland left the Giants with two active catchers, but Susac might be close to winding down his rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento. Tuesday, he went 1-for-2 with two walks and is hitting .615 (8-for-13) with two homers in four games.

Upcoming roster decisions will be tough. When Susac returns, do the Giants keep three catchers? A case can be made because of their flexibility, because both Haase and Rodríguez can play the outfield, because Haase can fill in at first base, because Rodríguez can man other infield spots.

“Those two guys can do a lot of different things,” said Vitello, who compared Haase to Jake Taylor, the fictional veteran catcher in the Major League movies, “and I’m a big fan of watching Susac taking ground balls on the infield because he’s got natural ability to do it, but that’s way down the road. Yeah, those guys are athletic.”

Bailey’s .146 batting average wasn’t working on a team with the game’s worst offense, so the Giants pivoted to catchers with a better clue in the batter’s box. Susac, Rodríguez, and Haase are batting a combined .371 in 62 big-league at-bats. It’s weird having catchers getting hits.

Haase became the first catcher in Giants history to homer twice in a game at Dodger Stadium — only three other Giants catchers did it at all: Walker Cooper in 1947, Tom Haller in 1964, and old friend Bob Melvin in 1987. 

“I didn’t have that on my bingo card, I can tell you that,” said Haase, the only man with two homers off Yamamoto in his 56 big-league starts. He also caught all nine innings as starter Adrian Houser and four relievers limited the Dodgers to four hits, two by Shohei Ohtani including his seventh homer.

And yet, it’s uncertain how the Giants will handle the roster decision when Susac returns. Haase opted out of his contract in March but said he had a gentleman’s agreement with the Giants to return if nothing materialized in free agency. He returned and reported to Triple-A Sacramento.

“Any time I’m on a major-league roster, I’m kind of expecting to be used in any way,” Haase said, “whether that be in a corner outfield spot, first base, catching, catching bullpens, catching on the taxi squad. I’ve done a good bit of everything, so if I’m here, then I’m working, and whenever they need me, they need me.”

The catching group is worth monitoring. So is the outfield group, especially with the celebratory antics on display the past two nights.

After the Monday win, outfielders Harrison Bader, Drew Gilbert, and Jung Hoo Lee performed a rather explicit dance that went viral on social media. Vitello said, “There was a meeting today,” suggesting management nixed future exhibitions. So after Tuesday’s win, Gilbert, Lee, and Heliot Ramos were much more dignified and respectful, simply lining up and bowing.

“OK, good,” Vitello said. “I like that. I like that, for sure.”