The Dodgers and San Diego Padres went right down to the wire within the Nationwide League West race. Now they’ll sq. off within the best-of-five NL Division Collection, with the fourth-seeded Padres advancing by way of the wild-card spherical with a two-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
The Padres will probably be acquainted postseason foes. The Dodgers swept San Diego within the 2020 NLDS en path to a World Collection win, then have been upset in 4 video games within the 2022 NLDS regardless of ending 22 video games forward of them that season.
This season the Padres halted a decade and a half of futility in opposition to the Dodgers, posting a successful report within the rivalry (8-5) for the primary time since 2010. Nonetheless, the Dodgers prevailed when it mattered most, clinching the division by taking two of three video games at Chavez Ravine in late September.
Now, the edges will sq. off in a heavyweight bout. The Dodgers had baseball’s greatest report at 98-64. However the Padres completed the season strongest, successful 43 video games, most within the majors, after the All-Star break.
Listed here are 9 issues to know concerning the Padres forward of Sport 1 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday at 5:38 p.m.:
1. Second-half surge
It wasn’t way back the Padres have been solely a 50-50 group. Throughout their first 100 video games, their lineup was scuffling, affected by an damage to Fernando Tatis Jr. and first-half struggles from Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and others. Their bullpen was shaky, rating within the bottom-third of the majors in reliever earned-run common. And marquee trades for Dylan Stop within the spring and Luis Arráez in Could had achieved little to encourage a better degree of play.
But, Padres normal supervisor A.J. Preller remained decided to make additions. And as his group heated up, Preller went all in on the commerce deadline.
Preller bolstered the bullpen. He upgraded the rotation. And by the top of July, the mix of enhancements and acquisitions had made the Padres baseball’s hottest group.
San Diego completed the season on a 43-19 run, a stretch wherein it ranked top-five in each scoring and group ERA. It lower a 10-game deficit within the division down to 2, earlier than the Dodgers lastly pulled away throughout the closing week.
And that kind carried over into this week’s wild-card collection, with the Padres blanking the Braves 4-0 in Sport 1 earlier than advancing through a victory in Sport 2 on Wednesday.
2. Contact-heavy offense
There are two issues the Padres did higher than some other lineup this season: accumulate hits, main the majors with a .263 group batting common, and put the ball in play, with their 17.6% strikeout fee simply the bottom within the majors.
Arráez performed a key function, successful his third straight batting title (and denying Shohei Ohtani a possible triple crown) by batting a league-leading .314. Machado, veteran outfielder Jurickson Profar and rookie heart fielder Jackson Merrill additionally batted higher than .275, making San Diego the one group with not less than 4 certified .275 hitters (Tatis additionally completed above that mark after coming back from a thigh damage in August, as did midseason signing Donovan Solano).
The Padres have been particularly efficient in opposition to off-speed pitches. Their .715 on-base-plus-slugging proportion in opposition to pitches aside from fastballs was second greatest in baseball, trailing solely the Dodgers.
3. Pitching, pitching, pitching
The true key to the Padres’ late-season run was sudden enchancment on the mound. After rating twentieth in first-half group ERA, their 3.38 mark after the All-Star break led the league and was fourth greatest in baseball.
Throughout that span, starters Michael King, Joe Musgrove and Stop (who comprised the wild-card-round rotation, although Musgrove left his Sport 2 begin with an elbow damage) all posted sub-3.00 ERAs. Deadline acquisition Martin Pérez was doing the identical till his regular-season finale. Veteran right-hander Yu Darvish rounded out the rotation after coming back from a groin pressure in September.
In the meantime, Preller’s high-profile bullpen additions — together with left-hander Tanner Scott and right-handers Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing — helped give San Diego one of the vital formidable teams of relievers within the recreation. Throughout their second-half surge, opponents batted simply .221 whereas putting out 25% of the time.
4. Machado’s resurgence
When the Padres missed the playoffs following a second-half flameout final 12 months, many fingers have been pointed at Machado — the assured, however not all the time constant, face of the franchise at third base.
This 12 months has been a distinct story for the one-time Dodger and 13-year veteran. The slugger’s numbers have been up throughout the board within the second half (.267, 13 residence runs and 52 RBIs in 91 video games earlier than the break; .286, 16 and 53 in 61 video games after). He additionally blossomed because the emotional chief of San Diego’s clubhouse, culminating together with his function within the game-ending triple play in opposition to the Dodgers final month to punch the Padres’ postseason ticket.
Additionally of observe: Machado’s previous two postseason conferences with the Dodgers. In San Diego’s 2020 NLDS loss, he was simply two for 12 with one RBI. In 2022, he went 5 for 14 within the win, his most hits in a playoff collection for the reason that 2018 NL Championship Collection he performed with the Dodgers.
5. Tatis’ return
When these groups met within the 2022 playoffs, the Padres have been with out Tatis, who was serving a suspension for testing constructive for a performance-enhancing substance. This time Tatis isn’t solely accessible, but in addition within the midst of one of many hotter stretches of his profession.
After coming back from his 2½-month absence in early September, the two-time All-Star had seven residence runs and a .908 OPS in his closing 21 regular-season video games. Then, he kicked off the wild-card collection with a first-inning, two-run homer in opposition to the Braves.
Tatis has been significantly good in opposition to the Dodgers this season, batting .350 in opposition to them (greatest on the Padres) with three residence runs (trailing solely Machado’s 5) in 11 video games.
6. Rookie sensation
In some other season — one which didn’t embody a historic debut from Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes — Merrill would have run away with rookie of the 12 months. He and the Padres will take a postseason run as a substitute.
One of many few high prospects Preller hasn’t traded in current seasons, Merrill not solely hit .292 with 24 residence runs and 90 RBIs, closing with a staggering .945 OPS within the second half, but in addition the previous shortstop did it whereas enjoying heart area for the primary time in his professional profession (and a stable heart area at that).
Merrill additionally led the Padres with 31 doubles, ranked second with 16 steals and was one among solely three gamers within the majors with a number of walk-off residence runs.
7. Choices for Ohtani
If there’s one factor the Padres are constructed to deal with, it’s late-game matchups in opposition to imposing left-handed hitters. And on the subject of dealing with Shohei Ohtani, the Padres possess one significantly potent weapon.
When San Diego acquired Scott on the deadline, it received one of many few pitchers who has dealt with Ohtani in his adorned profession. In 10 plate appearances in opposition to Scott, Ohtani is only one for 9 with one stroll and three strikeouts. Amongst pitchers he has confronted 10 occasions within the majors, solely seven have held him to a decrease common than Scott’s .111.
Ohtani had been hitless in opposition to Scott till their most up-to-date assembly, when he whacked the go-ahead single within the Dodgers’ division-clinching win.
Scott isn’t the one choice for Padres supervisor Mike Shildt to deploy in opposition to the soon-to-be three-time most dear participant, both. Fellow left-hander Wandy Peralta has held Ohtani to a two-for-seven mark with one stroll in eight conferences. The Padres have two different southpaws of their bullpen in Adrian Morejon and Yuki Matsui, although Ohtani is a mixed six for 9 in opposition to these two.
8. Veteran lineup depth
Even when the Dodgers deal with Arráez, Machado, Tatis and Merrill, the Padres produce other bats able to wreaking havoc of their lineup.
Profar, an Eleventh-year switch-hitter who was a part of the Padres’ 2022 group, had a profession season as a first-time All-Star, batting .280 with 24 residence runs, 85 RBIs and an .800-plus OPS from either side of the plate, ascending to the No. 3 spot within the batting order.
Solano went from being a minor-league signing to the Padres’ major first baseman, hitting .286 in 96 video games, whereas one other midseason minor-league addition, former Dodgers outfielder David Peralta, hit .286 as a dependable bat off the bench.
Bogaerts, the group’s $280-million signing two offseasons in the past, might need had the most important second-half turnaround, rebounding from a wretched first half — his OPS was underneath .600 by way of July 21 — by hitting .291 over his closing 59 video games.
About the one Padres common who struggled late within the 12 months was infielder Jake Cronenworth, who hit .215 after the All-Star break. But he nonetheless drew a team-high 31 walks in that stretch.
So far as accidents go, the one key piece the Padres are lacking is Gold Glove utility man Ha-Seong Kim, who’s out the remainder of the 12 months due to a shoulder damage.
9. Weak nearer
If there may be one participant of concern for San Diego, it’s hard-throwing nearer Robert Suárez.
Whereas his 36 saves (in 42 alternatives) have been fourth most within the majors, he had with a 6.00 ERA in September. Throughout that point, he struck out simply 9 batters in 12 innings, blew three of his 10 save alternatives and was the one who loaded the bases in opposition to the Dodgers earlier than the Padres turned their game-ending triple play.
Suárez nonetheless was referred to as upon with a four-run ninth-inning lead in Sport 1 of the wild-card collection and managed to toss a scoreless inning. He additionally received the save with a scoreless ninth in Sport 2. However for a group that has turn out to be accustomed to having a lockdown bullpen, he represents one potential space of weak point — particularly dealing with a Dodgers group that led the majors with 43 comeback wins, together with 5 within the ninth inning of video games.
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.
