Sometimes the best players are so good that they kind of sink into the background. Right now in San Diego, Fernando Tatis Jr. is having an MVP-caliber start, Jackson Merrill's killing it after an injury break, Michael King and Nick Pivetta are unstoppable on the mound and Robert Suarez leads the league in saves, and all the while Manny Machado is just there in the background hitting .300.
Manny Machado, this season, if he keeps up at this pace, will notch his 2000th hit and his 350th home run, and will cross the 60 career WAR threshold. It's not widely talked about, but Manny Machado certainly looks like a Hall of Famer after 14 years in the bigs. The man has given us 7 30+ homer seasons, 4 100+ RBI seasons and 4 6+ WAR seasons. And he will turn 33 in three months, meaning he still has a nice chunk of time to perform at the highest level. His contemporaries, like Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout, had career drop-offs. Machado might be more similar to Adrian Beltre- there'll be a dip here and there but he'll just keep at it. Last season people were worried Machado was done really wowing people? He's not. This is classic pace for Machado right now. 12 doubles, 16 RBIs, 7 steals. Dude's killing it.
When the Padres signed Machado back in 2019 [has it really been that long??], they assumed he'd need to be the centerpiece of the team as it reformed, figuring Tatis would factor in somehow. And now, 6 years later, Machado is still an integral part of the team, but the team does not live and die with him like it does with Bryce Harper or Aaron Judge. This team has enough depth now that Tatis, Merrill, Arraez and, to a lesser extent, Xander Bogaerts can carry this team even if he can't. But he can, and as such the Padres' surge is even more fun to watch. Tatis and Machado have spent the last six years performing together in the lineup, and right now they're both excellent. Even if the end of the Seidler years discouraged Padres fans, the team's still competitive, and they're a game out of first.
That's the thing- the Padres and the Dodgers are close right now, and while the Dodgers have already seen a ton of setbacks and injuries, the Padres have honestly stayed pretty sturdy. There are guys who could be playing better, of course [Cease is just getting his mojo back, and Cronenworth had a wild night last night], but there's not a ton of missed opportunity thus far. Whereas the Dodgers once again have a rotation's worth of injured guys, and may have just lost Teoscar Hernandez for a bit. The Dodgers may have bought the better team, but right now the Padres have better luck, and could pull ahead for a bit.
It'd be very cool if this Padres team made a run. Even after a very tense Yankees series, I still really like what I'm seeing from them. And if Machado's this good, you don't want to waste that.
Coming Tonight: The first of many rookies said to revolutionize the next decade of Red Sox baseball.
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