The Padres are all in. There is no doubt about it. After trading the farm to acquire Josh Hader, Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury the time is now. After a disappointing collapse last year they have pushed their chips in the middle of the table and are looking to ride Manny Machado, Fernando Tatìs and Juan Soto to a title.
The Padres have assembled one of the greatest lineups in modern baseball history. Last year Machado, Tatìs and Soto combined for 99 home runs. 1-5 they are going to be a gauntlet and they are going to have to dominate to over come some of the pitching they may see in the postseason. They need to win the battles against the deGrom, Scherzer and Clayton Kershaws of the world. Trading everything for Juan Soto makes all the sense in the world, now they just need to mash.
The biggest challenge the Padres will face is with their staff. The pitching will have to keep pace with the offense. Joe Musgrove is a stud and Yu Darvish can still be dominant but they will need to prove they can keep teams down in the postseason. No matter how many runs the offense scores they will still have to potentially face Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Austin Riley and Ronald Acuña Jr.
The time is now for the Padres. They need to win some meaningful games to prove that this team is the truth. The process is sound but if they results don’t follow then this could go down as an all-time squandering of talent.
