That summation could serve as a microcosm of their season as well.<\/p>\n
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Yet, here they are still firmly in playoff position despite losing 11 of their past 16 games.<\/p>\n
I wrote in my game story (here<\/a>) from last night\u2019s 2-1 loss to the Reds about how the Padres view the past five games differently than the 11 before that.<\/p>\n They contend it matters that they are playing cleaner and with more energy.<\/p>\n While they would not specifically comment on a team breakfast they had Saturday, there were some interesting quotes from Shildt and players about how they have viewed the games the team has played since.<\/p>\n One of those quotes:<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody cares when they come to the field, and we care about winning,\u201d Jackson Merrill said. \u201cWe can care all we want. When it comes to performing, that\u2019s a different type of care. You know, it\u2019s going up there with a plan, not getting away from it and staying with it and doing it. I feel like tonight we were right there at the end. The last inning, we just needed to execute a little more. \u2026 We cared today, and we put our hearts out there. And that\u2019s what we care about. Don\u2019t give a (expletive) about the loss. We don\u2019t, because we\u2019ve got more games coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n The road ahead<\/p>\n The Padres are three games behind the Dodgers in the National League West for the first time since Aug. 9.<\/p>\n And remember, making up three games is not enough. The Padres would have to finish a game ahead of the Dodgers after losing the season series, which is the first tiebreaker.<\/p>\n One of the things Padres players were reminded of Saturday was that their focus needs to be on themselves and not the teams around them. No such mandate exists for the rest of you, and perhaps your focus should shift from the quest to win the NL West.<\/p>\n With last night\u2019s loss, the Padres\u2019 playoff chances decreased by one half of a percentage point to 98%, according to FanGraphs<\/a>.<\/p>\n That projection is based on the standings, FanGraphs\u2019 projections for a team\u2019s performance and the remaining schedule and running 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season. So that means that in about 19,600 of those simulations, the Padres made the playoffs.<\/p>\n The Padres\u2019 playoff odds have dropped a mere 1.5 percentage points since Aug. 23, which was the day before they began their current 5-11 run.<\/p>\n That is the power of the calendar. Time generally runs out on teams that are doing the chasing while every passing day is like a win intself for the teams being chased.<\/p>\n For illustrative purposes, let\u2019s say the Padres continue to flounder and go 6-10 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n In order for the Padres to not make the postseason in that case, the Reds would have to go 11-5 or the Giants 12-4. That is because the Reds can finish tied with the Padres by virtue of having won the season series between the two teams while the Padres won the season series against the Giants. Also, the Padres would win a three-way tie based on having the best winning percentage in games between the three clubs.<\/p>\n We cannot know how it would turn out should the Mets somehow figure into a tie involving the Padres, because the teams have three games remaining.<\/p>\n Manny dragging<\/p>\n Manny Machado is gassed. That is not even debatable.<\/p>\n He said recently he should have taken a day off<\/a> earlier in the season.<\/p>\n He did not. And the Padres did not make him.<\/p>\n And now, the 33-year-old third baseman, who has been in the starting lineup for all 146 of the Padres\u2019 games, including the past 21 at third, is simply running on fumes.<\/p>\n Machado acknowledged it will be beneficial to get some rest when the Padres clinch a playoff spot.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I mean, that\u2019d be nice for sure,\u201d he said Tuesday night. \u201cBut let\u2019s get there first. We\u2019re far away from that, so I\u2019m not trying to think too far ahead. We\u2019ve still got a tough stretch to go and a lot of important games to be played.\u201d<\/p>\n The Padres might not be able to wait that long.<\/p>\n Machado was 0-for-4 last night and has two hits in his past 25 at-bats. In that span, he has struck out as many times (seven) as he has hit the ball hard.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re looking for how the Padres could have won a couple more times this month, consider that their No.3 hitter went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position in a one-run loss on Sept. 1, 0-for-1 in last night\u2019s one-run loss and has one hit in his past 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n Here is an updated look at his numbers since Aug. 1:<\/p>\n I wrote in yesterday\u2019s newsletter (here<\/a>) about Machado\u2019s struggles and how he is generally at his best at this point in the season.<\/p>\n Well, consider that due to various maladies, he did not play as much in any of the past five seasons.<\/p>\n The 2020 season was just 60 games. He missed six days at the end of May 2021 with a knee issue. He sat 10 days at the end of June 2022 with an ankle injury. He missed the last half of May 2023 with a hand injury and then got regular days off at the end of the season due to his elbow injury. He began the season as the Padres\u2019 designated hitter in 2024 as he worked back from elbow surgery.<\/p>\n This season, he was at least getting regular DH days until the trade deadline brought Ryan O\u2019Hearn and Gavin Sheets fought his way back into the lineup.<\/p>\n There is talk by some in the organization of Machado getting a day off this week. The way he looks lately, it should probably be today.<\/p>\n One day, though, probably isn\u2019t going to do much for him. Perhaps he can rest Sunday\u2019s series finale and get the bonus of the Padres not playing Monday.<\/p>\n MVPivetta<\/p>\n Generally, we are considering position players when we discuss who a team\u2019s most valuable player is.<\/p>\n Perhaps, especially given the fact there has not been a position player to separate himself as the most valuable<\/a> over the course of this season, we should consider Nick Pivetta as the Padres\u2019 MVP for 2025.<\/p>\n Mike Shildt said this after Pivetta threw seven scoreless innings last night: \u201cJust what we needed, just what we would have hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n That could be a description of his season too.<\/p>\n Last night was Pivetta\u2019s seventh time going seven innings and the fifth time he did so without allowing\u00a0 a run. That is not only four more times going seven scoreless than any other Padres pitcher but the most in the National League.<\/p>\n Pivetta is 11-5 in games he starts after a Padres loss. That is with the Padres losing the past two times he has started despite his allowing three runs in six innings on Friday at Coors Field and throwing last night\u2019s gem.<\/p>\n He has 19 quality starts, third most in the NL. His 2.73 ERA ranks sixth, his 0.95 WHIP third and his .191 average allowed first.<\/p>\n He essentislly had to do what he did last night, too, with the Padres\u2019 bullpen down its three higher-leverage arms plus Wandy Peralta.<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically had four to five guys available for tonight\u2019s game in the bullpen,\u201d Shildt said. \u201cAnd he knew that going in, and he met the challenge. And that\u2019s what this is about this time of year. \u2026 We know Nick\u2019s going to meet the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Depleted<\/p>\n Pivetta could not do enough to overcome Tuesday\u2019s 4-2 loss or the loss of Jason Adam.<\/p>\n Adam is lost for the season<\/a>. And Jeremiah Estrada, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez pitched Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n That left Adrian Morej\u00f3n as the lone high-leverage reliever available.<\/p>\n So Kyle Hart came on to start the eighth with the Padres ahead 1-0.<\/p>\n He ended up being charged with the game-tying run, and Morej\u00f3n was charged with the loss.<\/p>\n But neither pitched horribly.<\/p>\n Hart got two outs around a bunt single by TJ Friedl.<\/p>\n Morej\u00f3n, whose 89.7% rate of stranding inherited runners was second best in the major leagues, took over with Friedl on second base after he moved there on a groundout.<\/p>\n A single by Elly De La Cruz through the right side of the infield tied the game, as Friedl sprinted home from second base and got his hand on the plate just in time to beat a throw from Fernando Tatis Jr. De La Cruz then stole second and scored on Austin Hays\u2019 single flared into center field.<\/p>\n Give Yuki Matsui credit for keeping the Padres in the game after he took over for Morej\u00f3n with two on and one out in the ninth inning and walked the bases loaded before getting the final two outs.<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, What is wrong with the Padres? Well, as Mike Shildt might say, I don\u2019t know how…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,1266,3549,1306,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-218320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-padres","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115186042793918422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/standings_b706bd.png\")
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