The San Diego Padres had a concerning performance offensively to start the 2026 season. Through their first seven games, the Friars put up a measly 21 runs. They only scored more than three runs in one of those contests, in their 7-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. And, while the offense seemed to show promise in that game, some of those runs were due to poor defense on the Giants’ part.)
In Friday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox, the Padres’ first five batters (Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, and Ramón Laureano) went a combined 0-for-19. Outside of Laureano, the stars have not been playing like it for quite some time.
The Picture Painted by Metrics
So far this season, San Diego has put up an offense that ranks 26th out of all 30 clubs in batting average (.202 BA) and on-base percentage (.280 OBP). They also rank 29th in slugging percentage (.301 SLG) and weighted on-base average (.268 wOBA). The offense hasn’t produced well thus far, but it’s not panic time. The underlying metrics paint a very different picture of this Padres club.
As the Padres beat reporter, AJ Cassavell, noted, their expected statistics are much higher. The Friars have a .251 xBA, a .362 xSLG, and a .307 xwOBA. If those marks were actual, the club’s rankings would go from last-place finishes to 10th, 16th, and 17th, respectively. That places this club in a much more average spot than the former last-place spots.
The contact and power are there, but the results haven’t been.
What’s It All Mean?
If you ask just about any member of the Friar Faithful, they’ll tell you that the Padres have struggled offensively. And they have. This is not the part where I tell you that they’re not floundering their way through Opening Week. They are. But the truth is that they’re hitting better than it seems like they are.
Many have wondered if San Diego needs to change something about their offense, but they don’t. They need to keep doing exactly what they’re doing and, eventually, the results will come. Today, those results came.
Fighting for a Series Win
In today’s rubber match against Boston (the Padres’ first rubber match of the season), the Friars won 8-6 in what was a back-and-forth game all day. The Sox ambushed Walker Buehler for four runs before the Friars strung together back-to-back three-run innings to take the lead. That was due, in large part, to Machado’s first home run of the season: a three-run moonshot over the Green Monster in left field.
Manny Machado homers to a Padres fan on the Green Monster 😤 pic.twitter.com/4CZ3lzca0p
— MLB (@MLB) April 5, 2026
Many of the Padres’ players have floundered offensively to start the year, though maybe none so much as Machado. Before Sunday’s game, he was 4-for-23 with no RBIs. It’s been rough, to say the least.
But Machado, more than almost anybody else, had continued to preach that the at-bats were good, just not the results. If the Friars stuck with their approach, eventually the results would come. They did.
However, more important than that offensive outburst, San Diego showed something in both their wins over the Sox that they haven’t yet: grit. This is a ball club that was known for its ability to fight the last two years. To dig itself out of deficits and make incredible comebacks. The Padres had yet to show they could still do that this season.
But with the nail-biters that the Friar Faithful have been subjected to in the last two games, it’s safe to say that team is beginning to return.
Main Photo Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
