Renovated Padres soared to No. 1 in the NL West

Don’t look now, but for the first time in three and a half months, NL West has a new leader. While the Dodgers have been working on the point where they face to face plants, the Padres soared, waving 10 games on the NL West since July 3, thanks in large part to the dominant bullpen and some timely upgrades ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Southern California rivals will start six times in the next 10 days from the weekend series in Los Angeles, but Padres will have no employee Ace Michael King, who made the injury list Thursday due to inflammation in the left knee.

After 93 wins last season (the second highest win in franchise history), the five-fifth playoffs was the 2025 playoffs, breaking into the door in 2025, winning 15 of the first 19 games and leading the division for much of April. They fell from their highest position on April 26, but within the next six weeks or so, before dragging them down from June 13 to 15. Padres and the Giants first nine games at the end of the July 3 game, but San Diego has since then the second best record in the NL after only Milwaukee (28-5), while Los Angeles and San Francisco are linked to the league’s third-place record, better than Lowly Colorado and Lowly Colorado and Washington State, which is a better game (both).

Padres took over the first place in an emphasis on Wednesday afternoon, winning a seven-second inning, defeating the giants that controlled the challenge and paraded with an 11-1 victory. In this way, they completed three games, expanded their winning streak to five games and won their 14th victory in the last 17 games, dating back to July 26. The Dodgers led 5-2 that night, allowing the Angels to sweep and beat their first game in Anaheim.

Padres had a 0.6% chance of winning the division as of July 3, but as of Friday morning, they hit a season’s highest (36%), while the Dodgers had the lowest odds (still healthy 63.9%):

As noted in Thursday’s inspection of the Dodgers, the NL West game was based on three factors, swinging towards Padres. First, while the Dodgers’ offense collapsed with injuries and some untimely return and/or poor performance, Padres’ offense has been greatly improved, supported by Baseball Operations president AJ Preller’s move on the deadline. Second, it has become one of the top bullpens in the Grand Slam in recent weeks. This improvement helps make up for the fragmented rotation and has a huge impact on the team’s success in single-run competitions. Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ injured bullpen collapsed in the close-range bullpen. Looking back at the table above, you’ll see that the Padres outperformed their 50-point win percentage of their Pythonpat title since July 4, while the Dodgers performed less than 82 points in the same span. Overall, the Dodgers (now 68-53) still have a slight advantage in Pythonpat (.565 to .549), but the Padres (69-53) have a slight edge on the edge of Baseruns (.556 to .546). In other words, the two teams now look equal.

This is the collapse of their crime and prevent it before and after the turning point on July 3:

Padres’ offenses were apart from stars Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s outstanding big essay was out for four weeks in April and May due to right hamstring pressure. The solid support of Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth’s work was made by Xander Bogaerts and Luis Arraez’s mediocre performance offsets, and some pretty big dirt. Soon after that, Padres made his list of alternative killers of the year, in three positions: the catcher (mainly Elias Díaz and spontaneous Martín Maldonado), left field (the work of Sheets has not yet offset various former players), and a specified hit rate (by Arraez a rotation conter conter cast andraez).

As expected, preller took a positive approach ahead of the trade deadline. Although he delivered 12 prospects, and Eric Longenhagen rated the prospect at 35 fvs or higher, including six 2024 drafters in a deal with the Orioles, he spoke to the killer holes and both ends of the pitcher. The trade with the Orioles re-escalated the left field situation, while Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn, who were not heated while DH was separated from the first base. Both are in pending free agents (Laureano has a $6.5 million club choice), but receiver Freddy Fermin, who received from the Royals, traded for starters Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, not only significantly upgraded the frustrating catch, but also had four years of club control. Similarly, rescuer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears both received dress-ups from A’s in exchange for estimates by Leo de Vries titled “Leoo de Vries” (Longenhagen), the best prospect for a trade by the deadline – with four and three years of control, respectively. Nestor Cortes is a winemaker from infield prospect Jorge Quintana in exchange for outfielder Brandon Lockridge, an open free agent.

More information on the impact of these industries, but first, compared to before, here’s how Padres batsmen have performed since July 3:

Except Merrill Lynch, all Padres’ largest bats have been more efficient than before in the past six weeks, with Machado (3.7 Wars already surpassing his 2023 and 24 points), while Tatis leads. The sheets have been delayed, losing to Laureano’s game time – he has only eight plates since the deadline – and several other non-productive parts trainers have been out of the way, helping the team make 18 points in the WRC+.

Miller’s acquisition has begun San Diego’s career, beating 12 of the top 20 bats he faces, making it already the strongest part of the team. Padres Bullpen has 74.1 innings less than the Dodgers, now leading the ERA (2.97) and FIP (3.42) Grand Slams while ranking fourth (24.8%) and walking differential strikeouts (15.6%). Almost any time manager Mike Hilt Morgan. Suarez has been working on some tilt issues since July 4, with his ERA of 1.15 ERA, 2.47 FIP and a strikeout rate of 28%.

Where Paders looks fragile is rotation, and before and after July 3, it is basically the league average, with the lack of major contributors. King spent 11 weeks on the injury roster for squeezing his chest nerves before working on two innings and 57 goals last Saturday against the Red Sox. Then his knees began to bark and he was placed in the IL traceback on August 11. There is no news about his prognosis.

King has been Padres’ best starter when he was available, with a strikeout rate of 2.81 ERA, 3.30 FIP and 27.5% strikeout rate, so Randy Vásquez summoned from Triple-A El Paso is a big step to fill. Padres’ 22 games – second in the 24-season match against Dylan after Nick Pivetta – Vásquez released a considerable 3.93 ERA (97 ERA-), but only 5.31 FIP (130 FIP-), while only 11.8% of batsmen, with at least 100 second-level shooters working on them.

As for the rest, the stop wasn’t as bad as his 4.52 ERA suggests. He missed the Bat (30.7% strikeout rate, fourth in the professional) and Eaten Intiness (129.1, second), producing 3.44 FIP and 3.38 Xera, but he hits more than usual and allows four or more runs in the last seven turns, so he says in the right direction, he stretches in the right direction. Yu Darvish didn’t debut his season until July 7, and so far he has proposed a 5.61 ERA (dwired by the Cardinals’ eight-shot torture on July 24), while his ERA caused a 4.09 FIP in seven starts. He posted the first two quality starts in the final three rounds, so he does seem to be on the rise. Amid all this, Pivetta upgraded with 2.87 ERA and 3.26 FIP, and the staff are best known for the 141.1 Innings and 3.3 Wars. Aside from the greater availability of the Kings, neither Sears nor Cortez pitched before the trade (the latter was limited to Milwaukee, as the flexor strain was limited to two starts) remains to be seen to improve Bergt and Kolk’s solid work after the rotation.

One thing that is worth noting about both the Padres and the Dodgers is that each of them is fighting other good teams. Padres had only 28-31 against teams with 0.500 or higher, including just 2-5 against the Dodgers, who beat such teams 28-32. Note that these “.500 or higher” team definitions are a smooth one. For example, since the Giants slipped under .500 (59-62), Padres’ 7-2 record was not a 7-2 record for them in this case, nor a 4-2 record for the Dodgers.

With two three-game series in the coming days (the last meeting between these competitors in the regular season), we will see to what extent the power of NL West has changed. Padres hasn’t officially named the starter of the series, but they’re likely to be opener against Clayton Kershaw on Friday or old friend Blake Snell Saturday, and Sunday against Tyler Glasnow. Hang on your ass because it should be a fun baseball.