Padres Face Tough Challenge Right Away In Wild Card Series

Nobody ever said it was going to be an easy road to win that World Series... unless you are in American League team. As for the National League, man it is stacked. The San Diego Padres are stacked too however. No matter if they finished as the final seed to face the St. Louis Cardinals or currently the New York Mets which is a lock, it is not going to be such a simple run.

Credit to The Sporting News for this picture.

It would have been nice to see the 2022 San Diego Padres finish at the 90-win mark but 89-73 is an accomplishment for this team and its dark days. The Padres record is the best since 2010 where they won 90 and have in fact proven themselves this season without having to hover over the panic button.

But now, that record is in the past for any team. We have to remember starting Friday, every team starts at 0-0 again just like it is Opening Day all over again. Except this time for the Padres, they have one of the best hitters in Juan Soto, a switch-hitting Josh Bell, a breakout candidate in Brandon Drury, a dominant closer in Josh Hader and a player who carried this team in so many ways with Manuel Arturo Machado.

Already after the regular season concluded, the Padres flew to New York to face the Mets this Friday. Buckle up. A Mets team that can be truly compared to a Padres team in strategizing. A new and experienced manager, a shortstop locked up for years to come and just overall firepower on both the hitting and pitching ends. In addition, two franchises with much pressure on the line as their expectations are high.

The latest news before the series goes underway is that the Mets are so confident they will win this Wild Card Best-of-3 series, they are going to not have Jacob deGrom pitch in any game this series. deGrom was expected to pitch in the opener with Max Scherzer going in the second game. Instead, Scherzer will open against Yu Darvish. Game two will be Blake Snell versus Chris Bassitt most likely. Game three will be Joe Musgrove and for the Mets it is TBA.

Yes, the Mets pitching is very solid however, I am a fan of what Melvin is conducting here going into Queens. Darvish was just named N.L. Pitcher of the Month this September. Snell has been phenomenal the second-half of the season and Musgrove had a good start to end his regular season but had some rocky starts. He will be fine.

The question here going into this series for San Diego are the bats and the production. We can't hit at home, so take advantage of three on the road. We have went this whole season with the absence of Fernando Tatis Jr. and we can go into the playoffs without him at this time as well. Not only do our three starters have playoff and World Series experience, some of our hitters do too. Juan Soto, who carried the Nationals to their 2019 World Series championship along with Rendon. Machado who has been there when with the Dodgers and a few postseason appearances with the Orioles.

In the end may the best team win. The Padres pushed past expectations with their roster and revamping their squad while the Mets crushed their divisional-bye hopes last second. Let's not waste anytime in Citi Field and have the Mets pay for their late-season downfall.