How the Padres surged into playoff contention: What's been working during San Diego's second
How the Padres surged into playoff contention: What's been working during San Diego's second-half dominance
The Padres now hold the top NL wild-card spot and are eyeing the NL West division title
After a loss on July 19, the San Diego Padres were 50-50 and outside the National League playoff picture.
As of Wednesday, the Padres are now 62-52, owners of the top wild-card spot in the NL -- which would mean hosting a Wild Card Series, though that is far too close a race to worry about now. They trail the Dodgers by four games in the NL West, though the also-scorching Diamondbacks are right on their tail, a half-game behind the Padres.
So just how did they get here?
Dominant baseball
Despite losing 7-0 in their first game after the All-Star break, the Padres are still 12-3 with a +42 run differential in the so-called second half. If we ignore that first game (which isn't how things work, but play along), they've won 12 of their last 14 and have outscored opposition by 3.5 runs per game in that stretch. They've had three one-run wins in there, but also six games in which they won by five-plus runs. They've been doing it every which way, too, like comebacks (how about on July 30?), blowouts, pitchers' duels and slugfests.
Being able to win in any fashion is the mark of a great team.
Beating up on good teams
The competition during this run hasn't been easy. Sure, the Rockies and Nationals are in there, but the Padres have taken series over two first-place teams and one that has been in first a decent amount of time and still sports one of baseball's best records. They won two of three in Cleveland (the Guardians are 35-18 at home), two of three in Baltimore (the Orioles are 34-25 at home), swept the Dodgers in two games and on Tuesday won a game in Pittsburgh over an upstart, playoff-contending Pirates team.