I recently walked into the Dodgers team store and asked if I could purchase “Beat SD” merchandise. Of course not.

On Monday I walked into the San Diego Padres team store. I didn’t have to ask if I could buy “Beat LA” merchandise.

The rack of ‘Beat LA’ shirts stared me in the face as soon as I entered the store. There are no other words on the shirt: nothing about San Diego or the Padres. It’s a rallying cry at Petco Park, but it’s also a social mission.

The San Diego Padres are selling “Beat LA” T-shirts at their team store.

(Bill Shaikin/Los Angeles Times)

Above the rack of “Beat LA” shirts: more shirts, with this message: “SD > LA.”

Each jersey costs $49. On Tuesday, the Padres host the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. In the hours leading up to the game, a team store employee said, the shirts were expected to sell briskly.

“Just like grab-and-go,” she said.

The “Beat LA” chants will be heard all night long, and they will be deafening. But it’s a testament to the Padres’ uneven and underperforming history that four people with ties to the team couldn’t come to terms when “Beat LA” became a big deal.

“I think it’s more recent,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who grew up in San Diego County. “I don’t think it was a thing growing up watching Tony Gwynn.”

Tony Gwynn’s son, Padres broadcaster Tony Gwynn Jr., said, “It was a thing, but we didn’t get a chance to use it much at the time.”

Gwynn Jr. said he remembered the “Beat LA” chants when the Padres defeated the Dodgers by one game for the 1996 NL West championship.

“Outside of that, it was really reserved for Lakers-Celtics, as far as I could tell,” he said.

“I don’t think the Padres had established themselves enough at that point for the fans to feel comfortable going that route. A lot of times it was my dad: people came to watch him do his thing against the Dodgers, against whom he had a lot of success.

Steve Garvey, a highly valuable player for the Dodgers, said he remembered chants of “Beat LA” when he played for the Padres from 1983 to 1987. Back then, he said, the Dodgers were more of a national attraction like the New York Yankees, and less of a true competitive rival.

“For the Padres, it was always a way to encourage the team and the fans to get involved,” Garvey said. “Now, that stadium rocks. It’s as loud as anywhere.”

San Diego pitcher Joe Musgrove grew up going to Padres games in the 2000s.

“I was one of those kids singing it back then,” Musgrove said. “I don’t think there was as much passion behind it then as there is now, but it has always been a rivalry.

“If you’re from San Diego, you should grow up not liking Dodger blue.”

A jersey for sale at the Padres team store prior to the 2024 NLDS against the Dodgers.

(Bill Shaikin/Los Angeles Times)

The Padres sold a record 3.3 million tickets this year on their way to their third postseason appearance in five years. Born in 1969, the team never even sold 2.3 million until 1998, when the Padres made their third postseason appearance in their three decades.

“When I was a kid, and even older than a kid — until I got into pro football, actually — it was all Dodgers, all the time,” Musgrove said. “They have let us down for years. At one point it was a rivalry, and then it got to the point where it felt like San Diego was just holding on to something that wasn’t there.

When the Padres eliminated the Atlanta Braves in the wild-card round last week and advanced to the NLDS against the Dodgers, the Petco Park scoreboard lit up with “BEAT LA” before all the Braves had retreated to their clubhouse.

Former Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer tweeted: “Padre fans, fair question. Didn’t we finish the #BeatLA chants?”

San Diego fans love the chants. Baseball is about the fans. The singing continues.

But Hosmer offers an interesting thought: When the Padres were terrible, beating LA could make their season. That should no longer be the case.

“I think he’s on to something,” Gwynn Jr. said. “It doesn’t change the fact that it’s become more of a heated rivalry because the Padres have gotten better. But in terms of organization, isn’t that always the goal? Win a World Series?

“If you want to be mentioned in the same breath as the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Yankees, you have to actually win the title.”

Roberts said: “That’s the whole thing. That’s the beauty of rivalry. In college football, even if we beat Ohio State, or beat Michigan, or beat ‘SC or UCLA, that’s all that matters.

“That shouldn’t be the only thing that matters, right? It should be about winning the most games. But it’s still a bit of fun.”

Musgrove said there is a purpose behind those two words, and all the decibels that come with them.

“The last few years the road to the World Series has been through these guys,” he said. “Until we can start running the division and running the show as far as the division is set, we know this is a team we have to beat consistently.

“We played much better against them this year. We’ve had a tough time against them this series. We have a good chance of winning this thing at home. So we are excited.”

The Padres fans will be roaring on Tuesday. The team hands out rally towels. What upset me a little is that the towels don’t say “Beat LA.”