SEATTLE — He never came close to being defensive or annoyed.
He never referred to the back of his baseball card. He did not declare it would all be fine because he’s (expletive) Manny Machado.
But that was the vibe as he calmly discussed his mostly awful first 6½ weeks of the 2026 season.
“I’m five hits away from hitting .240,” he said on Friday afternoon, his math off slightly but not enough to quibble about. “I’m not worried. … Still 500 at-bats left. A lot of baseball.”
After going 0-for-7 in the first two games of the Padres’ series against the Mariners, Machado is batting .182 with a .604 OPS.
Both numbers are the lowest in his career (by a lot) through 43 games.
“I guess I’m lucky it took me 15 years,” he said. “I guess I’m a lucky man.”
Machado repeated one mantra multiple times on Friday.
“We’re winning ballgames,” he said. “That’s most important.”
Indeed. The Padres’ 7-4 victory over the Mariners on Saturday improved them to 27-18.
That is also a development as fascinating as it is both encouraging and worrisome.
Machado changed the Padres into winners when he arrived in 2019, and during the first five years of their renaissance, his performance determined far more than any other player how often they won. But he is not necessarily a bellwether anymore.
From 2020 through ‘24, they were 99-19 when he drove in at least two runs, 114-50 when he had multiple hits and 84-32 when he homered.
That the Padres went as Machado went was less of a rule last season, as they were 17-6 when he had at least two RBIs, 32-15 when he had multiple hits and 17-10 when he homered in 2025.
This year, he has been a significant part of some victories. Just not as many. The Padres are 3-1 when Machado has multiple RBIs, 5-1 when he has multiple hits and 4-1 when he homers.
“It’s never easy to suck,” he said “But we’re winning ballgames, which is most important. At the end of the day, it’s about what the team needs. Right now, that’s what the team is doing. We’re winning ballgames. I will keep working on trying to get hits.”
As he spoke, he leaned back inside his locker and slipped on fluorescent green batting gloves. He would a few minutes later begin a long session in the batting cage with hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. watching him work.
As Machado noted, he likely does have about 500 at-bats remaining in his 15th MLB season.
There is in that sentence a lot to think about regarding the past and the future for the player who turns 34 in early July.
This is not the first time he has been struggling this far into a season. This is not the first time he has been failing to do damage on fat pitches far more often than he should or usually does. This is not the first time we have wondered if age has begun its final assault on his sweet swing.
And then he proves he is still the Manny.
Fact is, numbers that have him on track for eventual Hall of Fame enshrinement have been amassed over a career full of streaks.
He has been close to this bad at this point in previous seasons. He has gone deeper into seasons in funks.
Yet he has never finished a full season with an OPS lower than .739 or a batting average lower than .256. He has hit at least 27 home runs in 10 consecutive seasons (excepting the covid-shortened 202 campaign). He has been, at the end of all but one of the past six seasons at least 22% better offensively than the average MLB player, according to the metric wRC+.
“Listen man, it’s a little bit of unlucky, there’s a little bit of, you know, (mechanical) stuff going on,” Machado said. “Just a little bit of everything, I mean, it’s baseball. We’ve been facing some really good pitchers, and it’s kind of tough to get yourself into the rhythm. But hey, I’ve seen it for a long time. It isn’t going to sustain. You’re going to get out of things.”
To be clear, Machado is not the only Padres star not hitting.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is homerless and appears to be going backward in his approach. Jackson Merrill has two hits in his past 30 at-bats and is another 0-for-5 day from joining Machado below .200.
“We’re going to hit,” Machado said. “I have no worries that we’re not going to hit. We’re great hitters. We’re up here for a reason. We are who we are for a reason. It’s just a matter of time for us to break out again and to get rolling, and it’s going to be fun when we do it. It’s going to be even better. It’s been amazing to be a part of this so far, and where we are right now, and we really haven’t been contributing.”
Without hesitation, he then transferred the assessment to one Padres star in particular.
“So when I do,” he said, “it’s gonna be just that much better.”
Machado has a history, too, of bursting out of extended slumps after talking about them publicly.
On Saturday evening, after drawing his first walk in eight games and making one of his outs on a 109 mph line drive, Machado passed a reporter in the clubhouse, the same one who had questioned him the day before.
He turned back, grinned and said, “It’s coming.”