The San Diego Padres Are A Special Team

By Steve Atkinson 

The San Diego Padres have advanced to the NLDS. They have had a dominant performance throughout the year, which continued during the Braves series. This year’s team is different from last year’s, with a strong focus on playing for each other and a shared goal of winning the World Series. There are no egos like Juan Soto or Josh Harder, and the manager, Bob Melvin, is doing well. The Padres team gives me vibes similar to the 2004 Red Sox, and they will now face the Dodgers in the NLDS.

AJ Preller added veteran talent to the team while keeping Jackson Merrill, who is likely to be the Rookie of The Year. His passion and drive to win brings energy to the team, inspiring everyone. Merrill plays every day and is a great player to watch, always getting on base. Having Xander Bogaerts on the team is significant, given his two World Series wins with the Red Sox. Bogaerts could potentially earn his third ring in San Diego.

During game two at Petco Park, the Padres fans showed tremendous support with a massive crowd of 47,000 people. It’s hard to imagine the number of fans that will show up when they play the Dodgers in the NLDS.

We fought tooth and nail to get to the end of the season, for the division. But now we’re in the part of the season where winner moves on and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s going to be a wonderful series. We’re super excited about it. Can’t wait.”

The additions to the pitching staff in the off-season with Dylan Cease and Michael King were huge. Then getting Martin Perez at the deadline, plus the lineup is pretty solid all the way down. Everyone can get a hit and get score runs.

That’s a band of brothers right there,” Merrill said. “First inning, we get bases loaded, no outs and we don’t score. But we don’t look back, we move forward. Six straight two-out hits! I don’t think that happens very often. That’s what you call a band of brothers, just working together trying to pack on the runs.”

The Padres Want a World Series Championship

The Padres have consistently outperformed the Dodgers throughout the season. It’s likely that they will win this series and advance to the NLCS. The Braves seemed disinterested, having played on Monday and lost Chris Sale to back spasms. The Padres had Joe Musgrove and Michael King on the mound, and they took care of business.

I’m pleased with the way our guys are going about this postseason,” Shildt said after Wednesday’s game. “You’re just playing baseball, man. They’re not making it any bigger than it is. They’re just going out and playing and balling out.”

The Padres Can Beat The Dodgers

No excuse why the Padres can’t beat the Dodgers and head to the NLCS. The Dodgers love to choke when it matters the most which we’ve seen for years. Now, the Padres have too most recently in 2022 in the NLCS after some dumb Padres fans made that stupid rally song. No rally songs this year just vibe and watch the Padres move into the NLCS.