The San Diego Padres had a concerning performance offensively to start the 2026 season.\u00a0Through 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.\u00a0And, while the offense seemed to show promise in that game, some of those runs were due to poor defense on the Giants’ part.)<\/p>\n
In Friday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox, the Padres’ first five batters (Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/a>, Xander Bogaerts<\/a>, Jackson Merrill<\/a>, Manny Machado,<\/a> and Ram\u00f3n Laureano<\/a>) went a combined 0-for-19.\u00a0Outside of Laureano, the stars have not been playing like it for quite some time.<\/p>\n 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<\/em> different picture of this Padres club.<\/p>\n As the Padres beat reporter, AJ Cassavell, noted<\/a>, their expected statistics are much higher. The Friars have a .251 xBA, a .362 xSLG, and a .307 xwOBA.\u00a0If those marks were actual, the club’s rankings would go from last-place finishes to 10th, 16th, and 17th, respectively.\u00a0That places this club in a much more average spot than the former last-place spots.<\/p>\n The contact and power are there, but the results haven’t been.<\/p>\n If you ask just about any member of the Friar Faithful, they’ll tell you that the Padres have struggled offensively. And they have.\u00a0This is not the part where I tell you that they’re not floundering their way through Opening Week. They are.\u00a0But the truth is that they’re hitting better than it seems like they are.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0The Sox ambushed Walker Buehler<\/a> for four runs before the Friars strung together back-to-back three-run innings to take the lead.\u00a0That 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Manny Machado homers to a Padres fan on the Green Monster \ud83d\ude24 pic.twitter.com\/4CZ3lzca0p<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) April 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/h2>\n
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The Picture Painted by Metrics<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s It All Mean?<\/h2>\n
Fighting for a Series Win<\/h2>\n
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