The Padres are on an ungodly streak right now chasing the Dodgers. I know I've said this before recently. The Padres always find a way to get good, conveniently around the time the Dodgers start losing games, and then they play each other and nothing happens and the Dodgers still win the division. And that is conveniently how things went the last time the Padres played the Dodgers. Pure momentum killer, Dodgers took 3 games, business as usual. Well...right now the Padres are 8 games behind the Dodgers, which in this run it like being 2 games behind them. The Dodgers have Ohtani cold, a bunch of people hurt, Skubal middling and have lost some key series. The Padres are 18-9 since the all-star break, have their stars finally hitting, and despite so many messy details, are winning games and looking dominant.
To be honest, this is the perfect team for Mason Miller, because the games are gonna be close due to the flickering run support and the eaten-away rotation. They brought in Robbie Ray and Casey Mize to aid the rotation, both have given up far too many runs, especially Mize. Michael King is the only Padres starter with a WAR over 1. Meaning Walker Buehler and Randy Vazquez, despite flirting with dominance, have not been able to keep this team stable. Adrian Morejon has more wins than anyone in the rotation because he seems to be on the mound when the lead changes more than any of the starters, because typically the starters are the reason for the negative lead changes. Morejon, Bradgley Rodriguez, Yuki Matsui, and of course Mason Miller, have provided an excellent cushion even if the rotation has sputtered.
And though Fernando Tatis, Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado all had awful starts, they've more than made up for it. It took Tatis 2 months to hit a homer, and now he's got 13 with 56 RBIs and 28 steals, plus a .280 average. A 30/30 year still seems like a long shot, but it's still a decent year for Tatis. Machado is still clearly past his peak, but he's got 23 homers and 70 RBIs, which is certainly a productive power year. And Merrill went from a nothing year to one of the most important ones in San Diego, as his 19 homers and 63 RBIs have been a boost in the last few months. He's still only 23, but the more he sticks around, the closer he's getting to those peak numbers everyone's been so excited about.
All that and some surprisingly potent bench numbers from two guys named Luis have been fueling the Padres to a clear 2nd place and a definite spot in the postseason conversation. The D-Backs want it just as bad as they do, and have a much better rotation, but they also just lost Ketel Marte. It may be a true foot race between the two teams with only 1 wild card spot to spare, and it's gonna be very close.
Coming Tomorrow- Last year, on a come up, he was wild with occasional flashes of greatness. This year he's been pretty great all-around.
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