Padres Finish 2023 on Excessive Observe, However Sizzling End Got here ‘Too Late’ to Salvage Season

So far as disappointments go, the 2023 version of the San Diego Padres rank fairly excessive.

Baseball writers have spilled a variety of ink inspecting why the Friars – and never them alone, the New York Mets too – flopped regardless of having invested tens of tens of millions of {dollars} into shaping a playoff-bound roster.

In prolonged critiques, each closely reliant on unnamed sources, the Athletic pointed at govt A.J. Preller and franchise tradition, whereas the San Diego Union-Tribune pointed at Manny Machado and clubhouse management.

By way of the Related Press, nonetheless, Preller and a few gamers, together with Machado and Joe Musgrove, added perspective to these accounts, whereas defending the group’s tradition.

“On no account is it a dysfunctional group,” Musgrove informed AP.

So what went improper with the 82-80 Padres, who surprised the baseball world in 2022 by reaching the Nationwide League Championship Collection solely to be eradicated with two video games left within the season a yr later whereas ending a distant third within the NL West?

The Padres accomplished the marketing campaign on a roll, with a 2-1 victory to comb the Chicago White Sox Sunday – they wanted 11 innings to take action, profitable solely their second sport of the yr in extras.

“A little bit irony there with a one-run, extra-inning win to complete it off,” supervisor Bob Melvin informed MLB.com.

But it surely took a season-ending a 20-7 streak to tug them again above .500 for the primary time since mid-Might.

“The unhappy half is, it was in there the entire time,” Xander Bogaerts, a newcomer in 2023, informed MLB. “We did it … It was simply too late.”

Why? Right here’s a couple of elements, leaving out the tradition questions the group faces in coping with Preller, Melvin and whether or not there’s an on-field management void.

Machado, as an example, performed beneath his greatest, ending with a .258 common, 30 homers and 91 RBIs, but additionally saved with it when an elbow harm that may require surgical procedure compelled him into an unique DH position over the season’s last weeks.

And the large 4 – that may be Machado, Bogaerts, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr., didn’t meet what have been sky-high expectations. Soto, who made the All-Star group, stood out, with 35 homers and 109 RBIs, and Bogaerts, with a late push, completed with a .285 common.

As well as, outdoors of these stars, as a group the offense by no means jelled. Whether or not wanting on the Padres’ file in one-run video games (9-23) or in further innings (2-12), batters didn’t rise to the problem in crunch time, as different starters, reminiscent of Jake Cronenworth and Trent Grisham, who hit .229 and .198 respectively, did little to contribute.

And no group escapes accidents, however the Padres, regardless of tearing up a bunch of sub-par groups in September, additionally may need been in a position to enhance faster with a wholesome Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, and Michael Wacha, who was in a position to return from his IL stint. Set-up man Robert Suarez additionally wasn’t obtainable till the second half.

Blake Snell, nonetheless, was on hearth from June on, taking pictures forward within the aggressive NL Cy Younger Award race. He completed the season with a 14-9 file, 234 strikeouts and a 2.25 ERA, tops in MLB.

However even Snell, who might win his second Cy Younger whereas on the cusp of hitting the free-agent market, wonders what may need been for the 2023 San Diego Padres.

As he informed MLB.com, this season is “going to be one which stings as a result of I don’t know if I’ll ever play on a group this gifted and this good.”