The Padres schedule is about to get "easier"

The Padres did well to bounce back from a brief skid and won two series against some of the NL's best competition. What will they do against the less talented teams coming up on their schedule?

The San Diego Padres are 35-22 and squarely in 2nd place in the NL West. If you care about things like Wild Card standings, they are 1st in the NL in that, too.

They responded to getting swept for the first time this season by taking a 4-game series from the 1st place Brewers in Milwaukee and then winning a 3-game series against the 1st place Mets in San Diego.

Over those last two series, which you could reasonably call “tests” for this Padres team, the San Diego offense averaged 7.5 runs scored per game. They allowed 2.1 runs per game over that same span. It was, in a word, impressive.

I was eager to see how Bob Melvin’s Padres would respond to their first bit of adversity, that being the 5-straight losses that included getting swept in St. Louis, and it seems they’re doing okay.

The good news? Here are their opponents between now and the all-star break that’s a little over a month from now:

• Colorado Rockies (11 games)

• Chicago Cubs (4 games)

• Arizona Diamondbacks (8 games)

• Seattle Mariners (2 games)

• Los Angeles Dodgers (4 games)

• San Francisco Giants (4 games)

• Philadelphia Phillies (4 games)

First of all, the number of 4-game series they have coming up seems weird. But, who cares?

Second, the only teams listed above that currently have a winning percentage over .500 are the Dodgers and Giants.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that the easy part of the schedule is where the 2021 Padres really fell apart. Also, and I hate to be this guy, the Padres lost a home series to the Cubs just a couple of weeks ago.

There are three real tests, bigger tests, broader tests that the Padres need to pass if they have any hopes of getting anywhere special this year.

1. Find a way to be successful without Fernando Tatis Jr.

2. Find a way to beat good teams

3. Take care of business against less talented teams

The Padres have done a really good job of passing all of these tests so far, but it’s only June 9th. As we have seen, things can fall apart in a hurry if you let them.

The good news is that the Padres might be even better than we’re giving them credit for. To this point, they have a winning record against every single opponent they have faced this season except the Chicago Cubs. And, as we’ve seen with the Giants and the Brewers, they tend to play teams better the second time they see them.

The Padres also have more blowout wins than blowout losses, so that’s fun. They’re 11-7 in one-run games, which feels important for future playoff reasons. And they’re 6-3 in extra innings despite still working out kinks in their own bullpen.

There’s a lot of reasons to believe in the 2022 Padres are legitimately good. There’s one big reason to worry that it’s all going to fall apart.

Here’s to hoping that the Padres rack up a ton of wins against lesser opponents for the next month or so, and improve their home record in the process. It would be just another sign that this year’s Padres is not last year’s Padres.