San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. are expected to receive some votes for NL Manager of the Year and MVP in 2026.
Opening Day is right around the corner and the San Diego Padres open its season with a three-game home series against back-to-back American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers.
That’s a tough pitcher to go up against in your home opener, but the Padres will be up for the challenge as it tries to have another 90-win season and playoff berth for the third straight season.
Former manager Mike Shildt led San Diego the last two seasons but shockingly retired from the role, which is now owned by 13-year Major League Baseball veteran pitcher Craig Stammen, who pitched for the Padres during the final six seasons of his career and as recently as 2022.
Stammen knows what it means to don the Padres uniform and he wore it with great pride, making him about as good of a first-year manager San Diego could hope for. Stammen should have no problem rallying his troops either, considering many current players were on the team when Stammen threw his final big-league pitch.
Despite having a thin starting rotation that saw right-handed strikeout specialist depart to the Toronto Blue Jays on a massive seven-year, $210 million contract at the beginning of the offseason, the Padres still have a talented roster and should have enough firepower to make it back to the postseason.
If Stammen leads San Diego to the playoffs in his first season as manager, I expect him to receive votes to win National League Manager of the Year, an expectation shared by 57 MLB.com experts that voted on who will win this year’s Baseball Writers’ Association of America Awards.
They voted that Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell, who led the Cubs to victory over the Padres in the NL Wild Card Series last season, will take home the award in a narrow win over Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly. Even if Stammen doesn’t win it, having his name mentioned in the conversation is an honor in itself.
One of the many Padres that played with Stammen during his tenure with the club also received votes to win an award – well, one vote. Star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. received one vote to win NL Most Valuable Player. Los Angeles Dodgers star two-way player Shohei Ohtani ran away with the vote, with New York Mets star outfielder Juan Soto being the only other player to receive multiple votes.
This isn’t too much of a surprise, considering the dominance that Ohtani has displayed during his career, but hopefully Tatis can have an incredible season and make the race closer than what the experts and writers are expecting.