The San Diego Padres have relied on Manny Machado's steadiness, but he'll have to to more in the playoffs.
The San Diego Padres just made the playoffs, and they’re looking to move up to clinch the top spot so they can stay at home through the wild-card round. Not many people believed this was possible back in June when the team was playing .500 baseball, but one who did was third baseman Manny Machado, who professed faith in the team’s ability to turn things around throughout the season.
It’s been a strange season for Machado. He hasn’t been good, but he has been steady, and he’s contributed power. The average posted on the scoreboard every night is still ugly at .215, but Machado currently has 29 home runs and counting.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic did an intriguing story on Machado, and he noted how some of his teammates have reacted to the third baseman’s struggles, which are still punctuated here and there with some great games.
Ty France was one. France has had a breakout campaign, and he noted that a lot of what he does is watching how Machando “goes about his business.”
But the spotlight is about to get a lot more focused. The Padres lost last year because their three stars didn’t hit, and in some ways Machado’s struggles last year against the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card series were a harbinger of what was to come.
Machado went 1-for’10 against the Cubs with a two-run homer — i.e., he hit for power but didn’t hit for much else. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill were also shut down, and the result was a team that couldn’t score enough runs to win games.
The Padres have been that at times this season, and if they do that again, they’ll be heading on vacation, regardless of where they do it in the postseason.
France noted that Machado’s steady, calm approach to his struggles has been a key in San Diego’s recent surge, as he said that he’s played for teams where the leaders are “full of panic and anxiety and stress” and it spreads throughout the team.
Machado still hunts mistakes as well as any hitter in the game, although he misses a lot more than he used to. His homer against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday left the bat at an exit velocity of 108.6 mph, per Lin, and France said the value Machado brings to the locker room is “irreplaceable.”
But the focus on dealing with the Padres lineup will be the same, and whether Machado can step up and do more is a big question going into the playoffs.
