The San Diego Padres are a team to be reckoned with heading into the final month of the regular season and into the playoffs if they make it.
The San Diego Padres have been one of the hottest teams in baseball since the All-Star break and have propelled themselves into the third and final National League wild card race.
The Padres are 24-14 during that stretch and have been doing everything well as of late. Pitching has been lights-out, the offense is firing on all cylinders, and the defense is making the plays it needs to.
San Diego seemed destined to miss the playoffs after a rough first half of the season saw the offense ranked near or at the bottom of every category, causing the team to fall out of the playoff race for a while.
The big three of right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., third baseman Manny Machado and center fielder Jackson Merrill weren’t carrying their weight. It took Tatis until almost June to hit his first home run of the season, Machado was hitting below the Mendoza line, and Merrill wasn’t getting on base.
But around the All-Star break, things began to click for San Diego’s heavy hitters. Tatis has batted .306 with 32 RBI, Machado has batted .238 with five home runs and 17 RBI and Merrill has been arguably the hottest hitter on the planet during that stretch with 42 hits, 11 homers, 29 RBI and 25 runs scored.
When a veteran Padres player was asked about what has changed for this group amid this dominant period, he shrugged and said, “Tatis is back.”
“It probably is that simple,” ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez wrote Thursday. “Fernando Tatis Jr. did not hit his first home run until May 30, but he's tied for the major league lead in homers since the All-Star break with 12. In August, he's OPS'ing 1.002.
“The Padres have followed with 16 wins in their past 24 games, surging just as their new ownership group takes over. Asked what finally got him right, Tatis told MLB.com: ‘Three months of struggling.’ The Padres will surely take it.”
San Diego is catching fire at the right time; even if your team isn’t the best record-wise or on paper heading into the postseason, the hottest team is always the scariest. With how great the offense has been from top to bottom and how much the starting rotation has stepped up in recent weeks, this team is dangerous when you also factor in just how elite the bullpen is.
All-Star closer Mason Miller showed that he is human when he allowed a crushing home run to Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder O’Neil Cruz, but he’s still the best reliever in the game and they call him “The Reaper” for a reason.
ESPN ranked the Padres as the ninth-best team in their most recent power rankings heading into the final month of the regular season. In a three-game playoff series, San Diego is at the top of the list for teams you don’t want to see in the other dugout.
