It was nice to see the Mariners lastly play as much as their potential for a complete weekend. That it got here at the expense of the Astros makes it all of the extra candy. Between the odd fourth recreation towards Houston on Monday, the short three-game highway journey to San Diego in the midst of this week, and a fast second sequence towards the Rangers again at dwelling this weekend, I’m undecided what the MLB schedule makers had been considering with this week.
The Mariners received the inaugural “official” model of the Vedder Cup final 12 months, taking 5 of six video games towards the Padres. The final time San Diego received this regional rivalry was again in 2021.
The Padres have been some of the entertaining groups over the previous couple of years. They’ve received tons of famous person expertise on the large league roster and haven’t been afraid to make aggressive strikes to remain aggressive. Years of these win-now strikes have depleted the depth in San Diego’s group, which makes this roster fairly prime heavy and probably very fragile. When everyone seems to be wholesome and issues are working as they need to be, this group is nearly as good as some other within the National League.
While the Padres’ pitching workers isn’t at the moment at full power, the lineup is firing on all cylinders. Built round a quartet of stars, the offense mirrors the development of the complete roster: extraordinarily prime heavy. Fernando Tatis Jr. hasn’t been capable of replicate the MVP-type manufacturing from earlier in his profession earlier than his motorbike accident in 2021, however he’s nonetheless been the most effective gamers in baseball over the past three years. Manny Machado is the iron man of the group; he’s performed in lower than 150 video games in a season simply thrice in his 12-year profession and a kind of instances was his rookie 12 months when he was referred to as up midseason. He’s been some of the constant producers in baseball as nicely, the metronome within the coronary heart of the Padres lineup. I’m undecided Xander Bogaerts will ever get again to the extent of manufacturing he loved in Boston, however he performs glorious protection at a premium place. The star with the most important query marks is Jackson Merrill; he took a step again final 12 months after a unbelievable debut in 2024, although he’s nonetheless solely 23 years outdated and nonetheless has a particularly excessive ceiling.
Michael King appeared like an ace in his one lone full season within the beginning rotation again in 2024. He had made the change from the bullpen through the 12 months prior, however his comply with up marketing campaign after his breakout was full of accidents. He missed about two and half months of the season final 12 months with a shoulder harm and one other two weeks in August with knee irritation. He by no means actually appeared settled final 12 months and his ERA and FIP actually suffered. He’s received a few strong pitch pairs to assault batters on either side of the plate; four-seam-changeup towards left-handers and sinker-sweeper towards right-handers. With his low-slot supply, he will get a ton of horizontal motion on his secondary pitches, whereas nonetheless staying fairly vertical along with his fastballs.
Randy Vásquez has spent the previous couple of seasons as a dependable, innings-eating back-end starter for the Padres. Between 2023 and ‘24, he had the lowest strikeout rate among all qualified starters, though his ERA was a decent 4.27. All of a sudden, he’s throwing two ticks tougher this 12 months and he’s greater than doubled his strikeout fee. The additional oomph on his pitches is clearly nice, nevertheless it’s significantly useful for Vásquez due to his seven-pitch repertoire. Discerning which of these seven pitches is heading in direction of the plate is loads simpler while you solely have to fret a few 93 mph fastball relatively than 95 mph warmth. With the specter of a real, bat-missing heater in his again pocket, his whole arsenal turns into simpler as a result of he has so many appears he can current to the batter.
I can solely assume that Walker Buehler’s 2019 and ‘21 seasons are doing a lot of heavy lifting for his reputation as he’s bounced between three completely different groups over the past two seasons. He put up 5.1 and 5.6 fWAR in these two campaigns however underwent Tommy John surgical procedure in 2022. He hasn’t been the identical since and he was legitimately one of many worst pitchers in baseball final 12 months. His four-seam fastball was the most effective in baseball at his peak nevertheless it’s misplaced a ton of its carry and simply isn’t an efficient pitch anymore. He’s tried to regulate by deepening his repertoire and mixing in all of his secondary pitches much more usually. It didn’t work in Boston final 12 months, however the Padres desperately wanted beginning pitchers this spring, in order that they’re giving Buehler one other shot to see if he can determine issues out.
