Good morning,

The Padres can’t possibly be this good while being this bad.

Not over the long haul.

But here they are, off to one of the best starts in franchise history.

And it should be appreciated for what it is.

You can read in my game story (here) about the latest way in which they decided a game late with another different hero this time in yesterday’s 5-1 victory over the Giants.

It appears the Padres have their deepest team in many years. And that is why they are 22-14 and not 14-22.

Just four previous versions of the Padres have started a season this successfully.

Here is a list of those teams, with their records and some key statistics after 36 games and their final records:

All of those teams had at least one star player who hit like he was supposed to, or at least did so for extended stretches. All but the 2010 team, which had one of the MLB’s top pitching staffs and was led by peak Adrián González, had multiple frontline players who carried them offensively.

It is practically unfathomable the Padres could finish with as many victories as those other teams without far more excellence from Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., who are batting a combined .225 with a combined .641 OPS. (Machado brings up the OPS, Tatis brings up the average.)

We know that. We also know the Jackson Merrill we have seen the past week is the one that has to show up most days going forward.

OK. Fine.

There is still plenty of time for Machado and Tatis to live up to expectations.

For now …

How about Gavin Sheets, Ty France and Luis Campusano getting some of the biggest hits of the season? How about Miguel Andujar getting lots of hits? How about Nick Castellanos playing three positions and starting to get hits? How about Sung-Mun Song being one of the heroes in his MLB debut on Tuesday? How about Bryce Johnson playing almost never and yet being the biggest contributor in one of the games he did play?

“A lot of guys that maybe aren’t having every day at-bats are swinging really well,” Xander Bogaerts said.

And, oh yeah, how about Bogaerts being the team’s best player so far?

It adds up

So what is with the supporting cast doing so well?

We should always credit the players most of all, since they are the ones playing.

This is a group of veterans, most of whom have been regulars and are just now figuring out how to be their best when they don’t get to play a lot.

“I think if you look just down our entire roster, whether it’s the superstars, the mid- tier guys or the bench guys, it’s just a talented roster,” France said. “It’s an established group, a veteran group, and it’s just the amount of talent we have. We’re baseball players. We know our job, we know what we have to do and we prepare to do that job.”

Give the coaching staff credit for working to keep everyone ready. And give Stammen credit for mixing and matching the lineup so often, in large part to make sure guys don’t get stale sitting on the bench.

Johnson is the only player who has been on the team since opening day and not started at least 15 games. (The extra outfielder has started six times and appeared in 12 games as a defensive replacement, pinch-runner or pinch-hitter.)

“The biggest thing is, I think he’s done a great job of keeping everybody engaged and everybody fresh,” Sheets said of Stammen. “It’s super hard to come off the bench; it’s hard to play one day every five. But I think he’s done a really good job of using everybody all the time and keeping everybody in it. I think that’s why you’re getting good results from guys coming off the bench, guys going into pinch-hit opportunities. Everybody is ready to go at any time.”

And credit to president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and his staff for seemingly culling capable depth by shopping at the thrift store.

Latest example

France provided perhaps the quintessential 2026 Padres at-bat yesterday when called on to hit in the seventh inning with two outs, runners on second and third and one strike against him before he stepped in to face Giants left-hander Matt Gage.

You likely already know he hit a triple off the glove of diving right fielder  Jesus Rodriguez, driving in the two runners to break a 1-1 tie.

What led up to it speaks to France’s mettle and how things that can go wrong just aren’t for the Padres.

With left-handed-hitting Sung-Mun Song due up, Giants manager Tony Vitello went to Gage to replace righty Keaton Winn. As Gage was warming up, Stammen and his coaches conferred.

France was with some other bench players in the batting cage down a set of stairs and behind the Padres dugout.

Stammen was considering the fact that France was his backup catcher, that Song was playing shortstop with Xander Bogaerts getting a day off, Tatis was at second base with Song at short, and Castellanos was in right field in place of Tatis.

“We had a lot going on as far as our roster today,” Stammen said. “So trying to figure all that out in a short timeframe.”

Padres field coordinator Vinny Lopez was sent to get France.

This is how France recalled the sequence of events:

“(Lopez) said, ‘Hey Ty, you’re hitting.’ I said, ‘When?’ He said, ‘Right now.’ I said, ‘OK.’ Ran up to the bat rack, I was putting my stuff on, and then Craig said, ‘Wait, hold on.’ And that’s when Song went to the plate.”

Stammen said Gage finished is warm-up throws quicker than he anticipated. Then there became the matter of pulling Song at that point, meaning France would go to the plate behind 0-1.

“Basically, I threw a strike first pitch,” Stammen said.

He could joke afterward.

France was unfazed.

“Honestly, the violation and the timeout (for the replacement) kind of helped me out a little bit,” France said. “Gave me a couple extra seconds to put my batting gloves on, talk to Jackson (who was on deck) a little bit, and then go to the plate. It was a whirlwind. But, you know, it all worked out.”

Heck, France has a better batting average (.250) after falling behind 0-1 than he does after being ahead 3-1 (.202).

“I mean, I’ve been 0-1 thousands of times,” he said. “I’m a swinger, so I swing a lot. There’s no difference between 0-0 and 0-1 for me. I’m going to treat it the same. Two strikes happened a lot quicker. That’s all.”

France took a ball, swung through a fastball, took another ball and then fouled off two pitches before watching a ball in the dirt.

Then he sent an inside belt-high fastball off the middle portion of his bat not all that hard the other way and took off running.

And at the end of a run of more than 70 feet, Rodriguez, who was called up to make his MLB debut on Monday and started at catcher the first two games of the series, dove and had the ball go off the heel of his glove.

Ty France’s go-ahead two-run triple#MLB #ForTheFaithful pic.twitter.com/8Coqvqqd5V

— San Diego Strong (@PadresStrong) May 6, 2026

Stammen credited France for a professional at-bat saving him, and he figuratively looked skyward.

“Probably the favor of the Lord resting upon me at that point,” he said. “Sometimes things work out in your favor.”

Waldron wins

Maybe it was the opener making it so he did not have to face the top of the order an additional time. Maybe it was pitching at Oracle Park, where he has never been bad. Maybe it was that the Giants have a bad offense. Maybe it was that his knuckleball was dancing and his fastball and sweeper were obeying him. Maybe it was Michael King’s advice.

Maybe it was all of it.

Whatever.

Matt Waldron had his best outing of the season by far.

The Padres had hinted at perhaps taking unorthodox measures to help navigate the uncertainty with their starting rotation.

Yesterday, they did so by using an opener for the first time this season. It was, in fact, the first time they purposely used a pitcher for just one inning at the beginning of a game since Sept. 29, 2022.

The employment of Bradgley Rodriguez as the opener before Waldron took over to cover the bulk of the innings could not have gone much more according to plan.

Waldron got through the sixth inning, Adrian Morejón worked the next two innings and Mason Miller closed out the game.

“It was us trying something with Waldron and seeing if it might get him going a little bit,” Stammen said. “Give him a little breather going into the game, not having to face the top of the order three times. We felt like, if we had somebody come in, get the top of the order out, he could start in the middle of the order, and then get through that lineup a couple times and then go to our elite bullpen. So it worked out kind of the way we expected it.”

Waldron, who entered the game having allowed 15 runs in 13⅔ innings in his first three starts of the season, surrendered just Rafael Devers’ solo home run and one other hit while striking out seven in his five innings.

“I think it makes it a little bit easier, honestly, taking that first inning out,” Waldron said.

Waldron also worked quicker, on the advice of King.

“I think the tempo of just getting the ball and going right to the mound and just being on the aggression a little more, that’s the biggest takeaway I have today,” Waldron said.

He is a notorious (over) thinker. And getting the ball and throwing didn’t allow for that.

“It cuts down on the thinking,” Waldron said. Thinking doesn’t help.”

Waldron now has a 1.65 ERA in three games (16⅓ innings) at Oracle Park.

“There are certain places you just have a good feel with,” Waldron said. “So far it has been this place.”

It has felt like Waldron is fighting for his job with every start. And it isn’t just a trip to El Paso in the balance. Waldron is out of options and would be subject to being claimed off waivers by another team if the Padres decide if he is the odd man out when Lucas Giolito arrives in a little more than a week.

A couple people in the organization have indicated in recent days that no decision has been made about what will happen at that point.

Extra duty

A day that ended with France as a hero began with him wearing shin guards and a chest protector and a big grin as he did drills with catchers coach Kevin Plawecki in the morning.

“I love doing it,” France said of working as a catcher. “It’s fun. You know, it’s never a good circumstance when I’m doing it, because that means something happened to our guys. But that’s kind of my role. Whatever the team needs, I’m willing to do.”

The circumstance yesterday was that Campusano fouled a ball off his foot on Tuesday and was unavailable. So France, who finished yesterday’s game at first base, was the backup catcher.

France last played catcher in high school, but he was the Padres’ emergency catcher as far back as 2019. He was also on call in 2020.

“I love catching,” he said. “I think it’s great. Obviously, I’ve never done it in a big-league game, but whenever I get a chance to put (the catcher’s gear) on, I have a blast with it.”

And Freddy

The Padres catcher situation suddenly seems fragile.

Freddy Fermin was hit by two more foul tips yesterday, though not as rattling as half-dozen or so that have hit hard off his face mask.

Both he and Plawecki agreed Fermin has already had a season’s worth of baseballs ricochet off various body parts.

“It’s the first time in my career this much,” Fermin said. “It’s really tough. But it’s part of the game.”

It would not be surprising to see Rodolfo Duran called up from Triple-A today. Stammen said Campusano, who was limping pretty severely, was day-to-day.

“It’s pretty banged up,” Stammen said. “He wasn’t able to do a ton today.”

Rebound, splash down

Sheets did something yesterday that you don’t often see. He did not recall having ever done it at any level.

In the fourth inning, he swung at a changeup from Adrian Houser and sent it down the right field line, where it sailed just foul past the pole, bounced off the narrow pathway that runs high beyond the outfield and bounced into the bay.

The next pitch was a fastball that Sheets straightened out just enough, sending it about 30 feet to the fair side of the pole and directly into the water.

Gavin Sheets sends a cannonball to McCovey Cove ☄️ pic.twitter.com/bjs2xP1f4V

— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2026

“Usually, it’s followed up by a punchout,” Sheets said of what generally happens after just missing on a long foul ball.

It was Sheets’ first home run at Oracle Park and the fifth time a Padres players has hit a homer into McCovey Cove.

He joins Jake Cronenworth (2021), Yasmani Grandal (‘14), Brian Giles (‘08) and Ryan Klesko (‘03).

Hot X

Bogaerts entered yesterday’s game at shortstop in the bottom of the seventh, taking Sheets’ spot in the order while France replaced Sheets at first base.

In the top of the eighth, Bogaerts hit a two-run homer.

His team-leading seventh home run continues his best start in any of his four seasons with the Padres.

“I’’m seeing it good,” Bogaerts said.

Bogaerts has with the Padres generally excelled in the season’s latter months and been dreadful in the early months.

But he did begin 2023 relatively hot.

There is one thing the two seasons have in common.

Bogaerts played in the World Baseball Classic before both.

“I think I did feel good in spring,” he said. “I think this might have been one of my best springs in years. I don’t know if maybe the WBC maybe helped a little bit (because) you’ve just got to be ready.”

Bogaerts began his late-season surge last year on June 19. In 99 games since then, he is batting .292 with an .825 OPS (15 home runs, 19 doubles).

Tidbits

Machado laid down his first successful sacrifice bunt since 2015 in yesterday’s first inning. He was clearly trying for a hit and almost beat out the throw, because the bunt was superbly placed in the grass to the third base side of the mound. The only time Machado had ever put a bunt in play with the Padres, also a hit attempt, was 2021. He also fouled off bunt attempts in ‘20, ‘22 and ‘25.
France’s triple was his second of the season and sixth of his career. His triple on April 27 ended a stretch of 452 games in which he had an at-bat and did not have a triple.
Merrill was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk. He is 9-for-21 with two doubles and a home run during a five-game hitting streak.
Andujar started for a fifth straight day for the first time this season. He went 0-for-4. It was just the fourth time in 24 starts he has not reached base safely.
Ramón Laureano won his first ABS challenge in three tries this season.
Yesterday’s game lasted just two hours, 14 minutes. It was the Padres’ second-shortest game of the season, five minutes longer than Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Giants.

All right, that’s it for me.

Late game tonight (7:10 p.m. PT). Thanks, ESPN.

Talk to you tomorrow.