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Los Angeles is more bully than rival. We hate them. They ignore us.

Their sports teams specialize in tormenting the Valley. They have 20 major professional championships despite spending 21 years without an NFL team. The arrogance of their fan base comes from their collective dispassion, where they show up late and leave early; act like they don’t need athletic teams to be happy; all while they surf, sit in traffic and wait for the biggest stars to come to them.

This one-sided relationship can be directly traced to our inferiority complex as a sports market. It spawned the longstanding battle cry of “Beat LA.” And if our pain and envy wasn’t bad enough, they’ve rarely fielded a team as good as the one that showed up at Chase Field on Tuesday.

This is a big problem.

The Dodgers are on a historic roll. They arrived in Arizona with 44 wins in their past 51 games. They’ve lost to only one team since July 4, dropping three games to the Braves. They have a devastating collection of young stars, the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, a well-stocked farm system and payroll flexibility the Diamondbacks will never match.

They added star pitcher Yu Darvish at the trade deadline and still possess 19 of their top 20 minor-league prospects. The implications are frightening.

In two decades of operation, the Diamondbacks have rarely promised a brighter future. General Manager Mike Hazen will likely go down as one of the more impactful hires in team history. The franchise is now steeped in methodology and churning out shrewd personnel decisions. They showed admirable restraint in not trading away future assets for short-term glory in 2017.

But the rise of the Evil Empire changes everything, leading to a very uncomfortable question: What if the Diamondbacks are resigned to play for nothing but a wild-card berth for the foreseeable future? What if our baseball team is like the Suns, conceding the present to a modern-day dynasty in Golden State?

That’s why this current series carries a certain significance. After getting swept in Los Angeles in July, including a blown save from Fernando Rodney that rocked the Valley like few regular-season losses in our history, it’s important for the Diamondbacks to regain a chunk of dignity. They need to believe they will be more than a speed bump for these Dodgers should these teams meet again in the playoffs.

The same applied to starting pitcher Zack Godley, who entered Tuesday’s game with a streak of 13 consecutive scoreless innings. The Diamondbacks will likely need their ace, Zack Greinke, to win a one-game playoff against the Rockies. The comeback of Robbie Ray is clouded by psychological concerns, a pitcher who was hit in the head with a baseball traveling 108 miles per hour.

Godley could be a Game 1 starter against the Dodgers in the postseason. He derailed the red-hot Cubs after the reigning World Series champions scored 16 runs the previous night. He needed to give his team a reason for hope come October.

The Dodgers will also be under tremendous pressure once the postseason arrives. They’ve won four consecutive National League West titles without reaching the World Series. Teams that dominate in the regular season are burdened with heavy expectations, required to punctuate their greatness with championship rings and a victory parade. It doesn’t always work.

The 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners each won 116 games and failed to win a championship. Same with the Warriors in the NBA, a team that set a record with 73 regular-season victories only to collapse in the 2016 Finals.

The Diamondbacks are not going to catch the Dodgers for a division title. But they need to give this juggernaut something to think about, a shadow of doubt if these teams meet again in the postseason.

We’ve been pursuing the Hollywood dream since becoming a professional sports market nearly 50 years ago. The Suns have chased the Lakers, who always seemed to acquire the NBA’s dominant center. Our futility was evident when Raja Bell became a Valley legend for a cheap shot on Lakers star Kobe Bryant, the only way our basketball team could get revenge.

ASU trails USC in college football the way a dog chases its tail. Coyotes fans have learned to hate the Kings. We welcomed Shaquille O’Neal after he was done winning championships at the Staples Center. We drafted Matt Leinart when he was no longer an impact player in Southern California. We celebrated the arrival of the great Wayne Gretzky only after he was done playing and about to become a very flawed head coach.

There is a reason why LA fans don’t respect Arizona teams, and the 2017 Dodgers are only adding to their hubris. Which is why the Diamondbacks have one mission in this series:

Give them something to fear. It might be handy come October.

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Reach Bickley at [email protected] or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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Wednesday’s game

Dodgers at Diamondbacks

When: 6:40 p.m.

Where: Chase Field (Roof hotline: 602-462-6262)

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (13-4, 3.10) vs. Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (13-1, 2.33).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7), KHOV-FM (105.1)

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better pitching matchup all season. Greinke was hit hard his last outing, giving up nine hits and six earned runs to the Chicago Cubs in six innings. … At Chase Field, he’s 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA and has struck out 95 batters in 79 innings. … Greinke lost his only previous start against the Dodgers this year when he allowed five runs in five innings way back in April. … Wood has been a revelation for the Dodgers but he’s already pitched 40 more innings than he did all last year and recently complained of some fatigue in his left arm.

Coming up

Thursday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Anthony Banda (1-1, 3.86) vs. Dodgers RHP Yu Darvish (7-9, 3.81).

Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks TBD vs. Cubs RHP John Lackey (9-9, 4.81).

Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks TBD vs. Cubs LHP Jon Lester (8-6, 3.97).