The Padres may still be battling the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League, but around the league, there’s real belief that San Diego could make noise if it gets in.
That’s the read from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, who polled 14 MLB executives and scouts. Half of them picked the Padres as the National League’s “sleeper” team this season.
One AL scout summed up the appeal this way: “For me, San Diego is the perfect sleeper team. They're better now than they have been all season, but because they've been fighting for a playoff spot and have no chance at the division, it doesn't feel like people are talking about them,” an AL scout told Rogers.
The same scout pointed to the club’s deadline additions and the way the roster has come alive late. “Their last-second grab of Mize and Ray might be [general manager AJ] Preller's best work if they go far. And it just seems like everyone who was slumping in the first half is hot now.”
That combination is what has people paying attention. The Padres still could miss the postseason, but if they do get there, the ingredients are there for a dangerous run.
On the mound, Casey Mize, Robbie Ray, and Michael King give San Diego a starting trio with real punch, while Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon give the bullpen more bite.
And the lineup has its own reasons for optimism. Fernando Tatis Jr. is back to being a superstar who can actually hit home runs, Jackson Merrill has surged, and Ty France has emerged as a star hitter.
There are still questions hanging over the team, but if the right pieces keep clicking, the Padres have the look of the kind of postseason sleeper executives were talking about.
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Craig Stammen acknowledged the defeat while still pointing to the teams recent play as a sign of progress, which is why this one stung without necessarily changing the larger mood around the club. Even so, the kind of collapse that followed a promising start is the sort of night that sends Padres fans right back to a familiar question, the same one that tends to linger whenever a lead slips away in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]