{"id":73864,"date":"2025-07-18T23:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T23:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73864\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T23:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T23:09:13","slug":"goal-is-to-be-better-against-better-teams-tyler-wades-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73864\/","title":{"rendered":"Goal is to be better against better teams; Tyler Wade’s absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Padres know one thing has to be different in the second half.<\/p>\n

And they did not wait until after the All-Star break to address it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Some players expressed surprise to learn just how poorly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had asked me,\u201d Xander Bogaerts said Friday afternoon, \u201cI would probably have said we were .500, because we\u2019re playing pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Padres are nowhere close to having split with winning teams.<\/p>\n

Bogaerts was reminded Friday that the Padres are 18-31 against teams with winning records.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty bad,\u201d Bogaerts said.<\/p>\n

Whether the meeting was an impetus or not, the Padres took two of three from the National League East-leading Phillies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Phillies (series) was fantastic,\u201d Gavin Sheets said. \u201cWe 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\u2019s going to take. That\u2019s how you make a deep run.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series win over the Phillies was the Padres\u2019 first against a winning team since early June and just their fourth in 16 series against such teams this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really important,\u201d 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. \u201cThat creates momentum to the playoffs. That creates confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to hear we\u2019re taking care of business against teams below .500, because that is what really good teams do,\u201d Sheets said. \u201cIf that\u2019s our record against (teams) above .500, we\u2019ve got to fix it. We\u2019re going to try to fix it in the second half. \u2026 But at the same time every win counts the same. The win against (Phillies\u2019 ace Zack) Wheeler does not count any different than tonight\u2019s game or next week\u2019s 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\u2019ve got to get past teams like that in the postseason, at the same time you\u2019ve got to treat every team the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Padres\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

The reality is that a postseason team must win \u2014 at minimum \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

It is also true that plenty of playoff teams finish with subpar records against other winning teams.<\/p>\n

But the Padres\u2019 .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).<\/p>\n

Said Bogaerts: \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to beat up those teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade\u2019s inactivity<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In a way, Tyler Wade is simply too valuable to have been deployed.<\/p>\n

The left-handed batter has played six positions this season (plus pitcher) and is the team\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe\u2019s his own worst enemy as far as playing time,\u201d Shildt said. \u201cTyler runs in spurts. Every player is there for multiple or certain situations. When you\u2019re a bench player, we know what those situations are. But Tyler, interestingly enough, there\u2019s a lot of different situations (he could be used), but a lot of those situations don\u2019t come up consistently that (would) put him in a position to go play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

Notable<\/p>\n