Padres, D-backs Meet in Season-Defining Series
Both NL West clubs enter the four-game set searching for answers before the trade deadline
San Diego snapped an eight-game losing streak just before Arizona came to town, but the fix looks temporary. The Padres' offense remains historically bad, and manager Craig Stammen's team now opens a pivotal four-game set against a Diamondbacks club that's stumbling in its own right. Stammen said after the streak ended that his team 'still has that fight in them.' The next four games will test that claim against a division rival separated by just one game in the standings.
The offense is the problem. San Diego ranks last in the majors in batting average at .224, 29th in on-base percentage and dead last in OPS. Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill are all on pace for the worst offensive seasons of their careers.
The skid that preceded this series wasn't a fluke. It included a franchise-record 20-run loss to the Cubs and a blown six-run lead against the Dodgers, the kind of collapses that put a first-year manager's job under a microscope even with a win streak snapped.
Arizona isn't exactly thriving either. Corbin Carroll called his own club 'scuffling' and said the Diamondbacks need more urgency, sitting just a game back of San Diego in the NL West with the trade deadline bearing down on both front offices.