San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado is one of the most accomplished players of this generation, but will he be able to add a World Series title to his star-studded resume?
Bryce Harper. Aaron Judge. Jacob deGrom. Tarik Skubal. Besides being certifiable MLB royalty, what do these players have in common? Despite collectively owning a number of Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, and making a total of 20 playoff appearances over 46 combined seasons, none of them has been able to participate in that final champagne shower of the season, emblematic of the World Series champion.
Those players were also included on a list of each 2026 playoff contender's top player who has not earned that World Series ring yet, which was compiled by MLB.com's Manny Randhawa on Sept. 19.
The list also included third baseman Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres, who, according to the writer, "has been one of the best third basemen in the game for more than a decade," but aside from a 2018 deadline-day trade that sent him from the Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who would lose that year's World Series to the Boston Red Sox, Machado has not otherwise appeared on the game's biggest stage, let alone won the ultimate title.
Still, it's safe to say that Machado has presided over the most successful period in the franchise's history. Since Machado signed with the Padres as a free agent before the 2019 season after 6-1/2 years with the Orioles and two months with the Dodgers, San Diego has made the playoffs four times (2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025).
The Padres also stand on the verge of qualifying again this season, which they can do with a win Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Colorado Rockies. Should they earn an NL wild-card spot, it would be the first time San Diego has made the playoffs three seasons in a row. Not bad for a franchise that made the playoffs a grand total of five times in its 50 years of existence before Machado's arrival.
Machado's contribution to this growing history of success comes in the form of being one of the sport's most reliable players. In his 15th season overall and eighth with the Padres, Machado has been a model of consistency. He's been an All-Star seven times, is a three-time Silver Slugger winner, two-time Gold Glove recipient, has finished in the top 10 in MVP voting five times and compiled a 63.4 career WAR.
Even with all those honors, Machado's most significant "ability" may be his "availability." The only time he's missed any significant time with injury was during his second full season in Baltimore when he appeared in 82 games. Since joining San Diego, Machado has appeared in less than 150 games only once, when he played 138 in 2023, and he even appeared in all 60 games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
This year, he's played in 153 of San Diego's 157 games as of Wednesday and, after a stuttering start to the season (.182 average and .616 OPS through May 20), Machado has looked more Manny-like in the ensuing four months. As of Wednesday, he has 28 home runs with 84 RBIs, both of which are within career norms, though his average and OPS (.218 and .710, respectively) are career lows and his 139 strikeouts are a career high.
That being said, with 2,193 hits at the age of 33, Machado is the one active player "with the best chance of reaching 3,000 hits," according to a July 2025 report from The Athletic via The Sporting News. A similar report from MLB.com, also from July 2025, noted that with more than 2,000 hits and 350 home runs at the time, Machado was the 12th player in MLB history to reach those milestones in their age-32 season or earlier. The list includes Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson, and contemporaries Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.
With continued good health and a contract that runs through the 2033 season, Machado will have ample opportunity to join the 3,000-hit/500-HR club, an exclusive group that includes just seven members: Aaron, Mays, Cabrera, Pujols, Rodriguez, Eddie Murray and Rafael Palmeiro.
But that's a discussion for another day. Of more immediate concern, do Machado and the Padres have what it takes to qualify for the playoffs and then make that magical run to a World Series championship? If the playoffs started Wednesday night, they'd travel to meet the Atlanta Braves in the three-game wild-card round. A win there would send them to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers. Winning that series would match them in the NLCS against one of the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs or Philadelphia Phillies. The likeliest World Series opponents would be the Tampa Bay Rays or New York Yankees.
This San Diego squad has definitely been built with a deep playoff run in mind. Michael King, Casey Mize, Robbie Ray and Nick Pivetta headline a solid rotation with the red-hot Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill pacing an offense that has helped the Padres win 13 or their past 15 games going into Wednesday night. The real key to postseason success lies in a shutdown bullpen led by Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez, who has been predicted to be a surprise postseason star.
And don't expect Manny Machado, who has been a foundational piece of this franchise for seven seasons, to be solely along for the ride as the Padres chase World Series glory.
