WASHINGTON — The Padres know one thing has to be different in the second half.

And they did not wait until after the All-Star break to address it.

During their pre-series meetings before playing the Phillies last weekend, the Padres talked about how poorly they have fared against teams with winning records.

Some players expressed surprise to learn just how poorly.

“If you had asked me,” Xander Bogaerts said Friday afternoon, “I would probably have said we were .500, because we’re playing pretty good.”

The Padres are nowhere close to having split with winning teams.

Bogaerts was reminded Friday that the Padres are 18-31 against teams with winning records.

“That’s pretty bad,” Bogaerts said.

Whether the meeting was an impetus or not, the Padres took two of three from the National League East-leading Phillies.

“The Phillies (series) was fantastic,” Gavin Sheets said. “We knew the importance of it. It was a big series against a good team. It was a really good (starting) rotation we lined up against. Stacking games like that is what it’s going to take. That’s how you make a deep run.”

The series win over the Phillies was the Padres’ first against a winning team since early June and just their fourth in 16 series against such teams this season.

“That’s really important,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said of taking the series against the Phillies, who won two of three against the Padres in Philadelphia at the beginning of the month. “That creates momentum to the playoffs. That creates confidence.”

The Padres built their 52-44 first-half record largely by going 34-13 against teams with losing records. They are 13-1-1 in series against those teams.

“I like to hear we’re taking care of business against teams below .500, because that is what really good teams do,” Sheets said. “If that’s our record against (teams) above .500, we’ve got to fix it. We’re going to try to fix it in the second half. … But at the same time every win counts the same. The win against (Phillies’ ace Zack) Wheeler does not count any different than tonight’s game or next week’s game. It counts the exact same against the last-place team in the big leagues. So while there is a little added (significance) because we understand who they are, and you’ve got to get past teams like that in the postseason, at the same time you’ve got to treat every team the same.”

The Padres’ focus going into this weekend is on that point, as they face the Nationals, whose 38-58 record entering Friday was second-worst in the NL.

The reality is that a postseason team must win — at minimum — the majority of its games against losing teams. The 2016 Texas Rangers are the only team since at least 1961 to advance to the playoffs after having a losing record against teams that were .500 or worse.

It is also true that plenty of playoff teams finish with subpar records against other winning teams.

But the Padres’ .367 winning percentage against winning teams this season was fourth-worst in the major leagues going into the break, better than only the Rockies (9-53), Athletics (18-38) and Nationals (17-31).

Said Bogaerts: “You’re supposed to beat up those teams.”

Wade’s inactivity

For all the mixing and matching Mike Shildt has felt compelled to do with his lineups and in-game substitutions, one player has been left out.

In a way, Tyler Wade is simply too valuable to have been deployed.

The left-handed batter has played six positions this season (plus pitcher) and is the team’s emergency catcher. But he has played one inning (at second base on July 10) since July 5. He also pinch-ran on July 4 and 5. He had not had a plate appearance in any of their 13 games leading up to Friday.

Shildt has not wanted to use Wade early in games on the chance he might be needed at any number of positions later.

“He’s his own worst enemy as far as playing time,” Shildt said. “Tyler runs in spurts. Every player is there for multiple or certain situations. When you’re a bench player, we know what those situations are. But Tyler, interestingly enough, there’s a lot of different situations (he could be used), but a lot of those situations don’t come up consistently that (would) put him in a position to go play.”

Wade is batting .212 with a .317 on-base percentage this season. Those numbers are .230 and .337 in 31 starts (mostly in center field and left field.) He also has reverse splits this season, batting better against left-handed pitchers (.238/.360) than right-handers (.205/.305).

Notable

  • Michael King, whose wife, Sheila, gave birth to the couple’s first child, remained in San Diego and is not expected to join the team on this 10-day trip. The plan is for him to throw another bullpen this weekend. King said last week he expected this bullpen session to be an “up-down,” in which he would rest in the middle to simulate pitching two innings.
  • Sheets returned from the paternity list after the birth of his daughter over the All-Star break. The baby was the first child for Sheets and his wife, Kahla. Luis Campusano, who took Sheets’ roster spot on Sunday, was optioned to Triple-A.

Originally Published: July 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM PDT