SAN DIEGO — It was late Tuesday at Petco Park when Manny Machado described an apparent respite from one of the worst slumps of his career. The star third baseman had again failed to record a hit. He had unleashed his frustration on an ice chest in the home dugout. The San Diego Padres had lost to a supposedly inferior team by two runs, wasting another opportunity amid a division race. Yet, for Machado, there was still something to celebrate: Five pitches into his first start at Petco Park, an opposing player had hit his second big-league home run.
The same player is a close friend and offseason workout partner. So, when Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart crushed a first-inning solo shot off Padres starter Michael King, Machado smiled at his 21-year-old protégé.
“It was fun to watch,” Machado said. “I think he watches a lot of Padre games, so for him to come here and hit one in front of me, it was pretty cool. It didn’t impact the game. I know Michael didn’t love it too much, but yeah, it was cool. Cool moment.”
The soundbite, coming less than 30 minutes after a collective defeat, demonstrated what makes Machado one of the sport’s most polarizing athletes. Few players possess his level of talent or combination of durability and productivity. Few tend to vacillate like Machado does between exhilarating and frustrating supporters.
Deep into a season that might represent one of his best remaining chances to win a World Series, the 33-year-old has skewed toward the latter end of that spectrum. The Padres beat the historically awful Colorado Rockies, 2-0, on Thursday to move to 6-11 in their past 17 games. Their 20-18 record since a wild trade deadline is better but still underwhelming, given the amount of help that was acquired. Meanwhile, Machado has been the most prominent culprit for San Diego’s recent stagnancy, even as he continues to pace the league in a certain category.
Just three other players — Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson — have started every game this season. Machado remains behind only the New York Yankees’ Paul Goldschmidt in total appearances since 2015. In three of the past five years, his ability to “post” has fueled Padres runs into the postseason while enabling Machado to pile up the kind of numbers that should one day put him in the Hall of Fame. In this season’s first four months, he batted .302 with 20 home runs and an .871 on-base plus slugging percentage, carrying a mediocre offense and collecting his 2,000th career hit along the way.
But since Aug. 1 — the day after the Padres revitalized their lineup with the additions of Ramón Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn and Freddy Fermin — Machado has batted .188 with three home runs and the worst 38-game OPS of his career (.537). In that span, he ranks 170th out of 174 qualifying players in OPS. The Padres, with their No. 3 hitter performing at a below-replacement-level clip, are 16th in runs scored — better than they were before the trade deadline, but still underwhelming.
“It sucks that it’s happening at this moment, but yeah, it’s part of the game,” Machado said Tuesday of his slump. “As long as we’re winning games and we’re in a good spot, it’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing; my stats don’t matter. It’s about winning ballgames at the end of the day. So if I can contribute — I’m not doing much right now to do it, doing my part — but yeah, as long as we win games, that’s all that matters.”
Manny Machado is one of only four major-league players who have started every game this season. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Machado spoke less than a week after he acknowledged some weariness to reporters. He added, following a sweep-sealing loss to the Baltimore Orioles: “There’s no time to take a day off. You know, I should’ve taken one earlier on in the year, but at this point, there’s 22 games left (in the regular season), and … you got to go out there and play.”
It has not taken a professionally trained eye to notice that Machado is dragging at the plate and in the field. The veteran has consistently missed crushable pitches while continuing a gradual decline as a formerly transcendent defender. Machado has long been known to play through minor ailments and more significant injuries, but fatigue appears to be a larger factor at the moment. Aside from the All-Star break, he has not gone multiple days this season without playing baseball. With shortstop Xander Bogaerts on the injured list and the team’s reserve infielders providing little offense, Machado has started 22 consecutive games at third base.
This stretch stands in contrast to previous years. In 2024, as Machado worked his way back from elbow surgery, he served exclusively as a designated hitter until late April. (He never ended up starting more than 14 consecutive games at third base.) In 2023, a hand fracture forced Machado to the injured list for the first time in almost a decade; that was before his then-cranky elbow prompted the Padres to make him their DH for all of September. In 2022, Machado seriously sprained his ankle, refused to go on the IL and sat for only 10 days before returning.
That mixture of determination and stubbornness has helped make Machado one of his generation’s most valuable players. Considering his status as the owner of a $350 million contract, it has also encouraged multiple Padres managers to tread carefully when raising the idea of resting the infielder.
“I’ve spoken to him about it,” manager Mike Shildt said last week. “I’m going to trust the guy, and there’s a possibility for that. But Manny’s a guy that’s going to post and wants to post. … He’ll say, ‘My day off’s the (team’s) day off. But yeah, it’s in consideration.”
Thursday, after a series loss to the Reds, Machado was back in the third spot in the lineup for the 140th time this season. (He has batted second six times and cleanup once.) Team officials have weighed the possibility of sitting Machado during Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies; doing so before Monday’s off day in New York would result in 48 hours of much-needed rest.
Still, pursuing a series win figures to take precedence. Before the opener, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez suggested he would not be surprised if Machado broke out with his first three-hit game in more than a month, “because that’s who he is.”
“When Manny’s good, he uses the whole field,” Rodriguez later added. “He’s a hitter before a power hitter, and lately, it looks like his focus has been away from the big part of the field. If he gets back to the big part of the field, we’re going to get that side out of Manny.”
Then, the game began. In the top of the first, Machado booted a ground ball for his 16th error of the season. He grounded out to short in the bottom of the inning. He partially atoned in the top of the third with a pair of slick plays.
But his offense remained in a rut. His final three at-bats went like this: groundout to third, three-pitch strikeout, popout to the catcher. Facing the majors’ worst pitching staff, the Padres produced limited offense beyond a solo home run from center fielder Jackson Merrill and a three-hit night from No. 2 hitter Luis Arraez, who, like Machado, has slumped for much of the past several weeks.
Afterward, Shildt praised those contributions, as well as an impressive outing by right-hander Randy Vásquez. The manager also fielded the latest in what has become a stream of questions about Machado’s ongoing struggles.
“The game gets you in a spot that can be a little challenging at times. It’s as simple as that,” Shildt said. “The fact of the matter (is) he’s still Manny, who’s an All-Star, a Gold Glover and a pillar of our team. So, he’s going to be just fine. We’ll look up, and it’ll be a blip on the radar.”
That, of course, is the hope. October looms, and as is so often the case, the Padres’ performance seems to approximate that of their franchise third baseman. There are only 15 games left for Machado to regain at least some form heading into the most critical month of the year; as of late Thursday, FanGraphs put the team’s playoff odds at 98.9 percent.
What percent is Machado playing at? With the answer being somewhere well below 100, would he look forward to potentially resting for a game or two after the Padres clinch a return to the postseason?
“I mean, that’d be nice, for sure,” Machado said, “but let’s get there first.”
(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)