The WBC played a pivotal role in the San Diego Padres' down year back in 2023...could history repeat itself this year?
The WBC ended in extreme frustration for several San Diego Padres stars, most notably third baseman Manny Machado and outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
Team Dominican Republic suffered a heartbreaking loss to Team USA in the semifinal game that was specially exasperating for Tatis given that he was in the on-deck circle with the potential tying run 90 feet away, and a blown call denied him the chance to change the outcome of the 3-2 defeat.
From the Padres perspective, there’s a cautionary note here that deserves plenty of attention. Before Tatis, Machado and the five other Padres who played in the WBC left for their respective teams, there’d been a series of conversations about the letdown San Diego had when they returned.
Machado described it the experience as being like “climbing Mount Everest,” and while the fall wasn’t that precipitous, it was enough to keep the team from making the playoffs back in 2023. There was talk about how to prevent it from happening again, which is a fair possibility considering how devastating Team Dominican Republic’s loss to Team USA was.
Another player who could have a key role in preventing this is centerfielder Jackson Merrill, who seems to be wise beyond his years at this point in his career. While several young stars went charging into battle for their respective WBC teams, Merrill talked early on about recognizing his subpar season due to a variety of issues, and he recognized the need for leadership this years.
It might seem presumptuous to for someone as young as Merrill to take on that role, but Machado is well into his thirties by now, and Tatis certainly didn’t provide much leadership last year against the Chicago Cups in the Wild Card Series, as he was stifled offensively when the team scored just five runs in three games.
New manager Craig Stammen will be taking the clubhouse temperature about this issue, but it’s been years since Stammen was in a major league clubhouse. He knows the dynamics for sure, but this kind of WBC experience is a different animal that he’s never been through before.
The same applies to GM A.J. Preller, too. He’s been with the team for a decade now, but as an executive, Preller simply may not have the wherewithal to keep something like this from happening again.
The time to watch for the possibility is early in the season. The Padres have a thin rotation, and they’ll be closely watched in April, especially with most projections have them landing around the .500 mark, and if they struggle to get above that mark it’s fair to ask what role the WBC might be playing in any struggles that come up, on the field or off.