The Padres take flight
The San Diego Padres offense we've been waiting for has arrived. The team scored 20 runs in their last two games and must look terrifying to other teams around baseball.
I guarantee you that the rest of baseball has been paying attention to the San Diego Padres closely since the trade deadline passed, and they do not like what they saw the last couple of days.
There was no reasonable explanation for why the Padres lost five games in a row. Well, I mean, there was. Three of those losses were to a very good and very motivated Dodgers team. But, to my point, the offense that was supposed to be a strength after the acquisitions of Juan Soto and Josh Bell and Brandon Drury was completely flat and nobody seemed to know why.
I saw breakdowns on Twitter and on TV that the Padres’ problem was with making contact on fastballs in the strike zone which, again, does not make sense.
I had friends and colleagues reach out to me asking what the issue with the Padres offense was and I gave them all the exact same response. The team was pressing, trying hard to live up to expectations, and that they would eventually come around. I was just hoping they would come around before the losing streak derailed their playoff chances.
Well, they probably took it as far as they could. The Padres are in the very last Wild Card spot right now, without much of a lead over the Brewers who are chasing them. But, over the last two days, the Padres have scored 20 runs and looked ready to do the same against just about anybody they face.
This wasn’t about one or two guys getting hot at the right time, this was a complete lineup terrorizing opposing pitchers with great AB after great AB. That shouldn’t slump, that should only get better.
And did I mention that the schedule is about to get much easier after today’s day off? Their next 10 games are against the Nationals and Marlins, who have both been terrible this season. After two games against a good Guardians team, they then take on the horrid Kansas City Royals.
If this offense is going to put up 5+ runs per game, which is a real possibility, the Padres might win 12 or 13 of their next 15 games. And that is certain to terrify some of the teams that expect to face the Padres in the playoffs.
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