The 3rd NL West team I am breaking down will be the San Diego Padres. I will put my bias aside when doing this preview. The Padres are coming off a good season where they came in 2nd place in the NL West with a 37-23 record. They had a good season, one where players like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth and Trent Grisham came into their own. They’re good and this past offseason they made it abundantly clear that they wanted to be better and dethrone the Dodgers. And they tried their best. When the rest of the league was at home, sitting on their hands, the Padres went out and decided to get themselves not 1 but 2 Cy Young caliber pitchers. They did that without even trading away any of their top pitching prospects. Then as Spring Training was starting they went ahead and signed their Superstar shortstop and the face of baseball Fernando Tatis Jr. to a 14 year $340 million deal. They can be scary.
Projected Starting Rotation
| 1 | Blake Snell |
| 2 | Yu Darvish |
| 3 | Dinelson Lamet |
| 4 | Joe Musgrove |
| 5 | Chris Paddack |
Their rotation is scary man. Its deep and its loaded. And the two that I want to talk about are obviously the two “hired guns” in Yu Darvish and Blake Snell. Darvish is coming off an excellent season where he was one of the finalists for the NL Cy Young. The Cubs received backlash after Darvish’s first year in Chicago because he was plagued by injuries and fell extremely short of expectations. And fans overreacted saying they over payed just because he had a down year in the first year of a 5 year deal. And last year Darvish showed Cubs fans what he can do when he’s healthy and on. The Padres are hoping for Darvish to repeat his success and have him help them dethrone the Dodgers. Snell on the other hand is coming off an excellent start in the World Series against the Dodgers. But for unknown reason Rays manager pulled him after he was dealing, which ended up costing the Rays the World Series. I don’t expect that to happen to Snell again when he takes the mound for the Padres. I expect both Darvish and Snell to have excellent seasons where they help the Padres reach the postseason again.
Projected Line-Up
| 1 | CF Trent Grisham | L |
| 2 | SS Fernando Tatis Jr. | R |
| 3 | 3B Manny Machado | R |
| 4 | 1B Eric Hosmer | L |
| 5 | RF Wil Myers | R |
| 6 | LF Tommy Pham | R |
| 7 | 2B Jake Cronenworth | L |
| 8 | C Victor Caratini | S |
| 9 | P Pitcher | – |
This lineup is STACKED. There are no easy outs in the lineup and they will make opposing pitchers work. The guys I want to touch on are Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth. Tatis Jr., I’ve said it once and will say it again, is the FACE OF BASEBALL. The dude is talented all around, and any team would want to have him. Now, will he be able to live up to the hype and the contract extension? Your damn right he will, and that FUCKEN SUCKS for the Dodgers. Cronenworth is a relatively unknown player because last year was his rookie season. He is a great hitter, who tries to make productive outs and not just swing for the fences. He’s probably the toughest out because of that. I expect this lineup to cause pitcher nightmares. But hey like Justin Turner said, the dodgers are going to get 19 World Series games, those are the 19 games where the Dodgers and Padres meet during the season.
2021 PECOTA NL West Projections
As I’ve stated before, I 100% agree with PECOTA’s NL West projections. I don’t see the Padres dethroning the Dodgers, but I do expect it to be a dog fight for the division. The Padres nor the Dodgers are going to go down easy and it’s going to be really fun and stressful to watch. I predict the Padres will end the season in 2nd place.
