Trent Reinsmith
The San Diego Padres shocked the baseball world when they picked up Juan Soto at the 2022 Major League Baseball trade deadline. The Padres won their first game with Soto on the field and then promptly dropped their next 5. Then, on August 12, MLB announced it was suspending Padres’ star Fernando Tatis Jr. for 80 games after he tested positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing drug.
In short, things could be going better for San Diego as the 2022 MLB Playoffs approach.
As of this writing, the Padres would make it into the Playoffs as a Wild Card, but they are the third Wild Card team, and the club’s lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for that spot is just 1.5 games.
San Diego is 68-57 on the season, and they have not been playing well as of late. The Padres are 4-6 in their past ten outings. The Brewers have the same record. The other teams in the Wild Card race in the National League are the Philadelphia Phillies (68-55) and Atlanta Braves (77-48).
Before we look at the San Diego Padres’ chances of making the 2022 MLB Playoffs, check out our guide on World Series Betting, as well as the best sites for betting on MLB in 2022.
San Diego Padres 2022 MLB Playoff picks
| Team |  | |
| San Diego Padres to Make 2022 MLB Playoffs | -400 | |
| San Diego Padres to Miss 2022 MLB Playoffs | +300 |
Hitting
San Diego has a team batting average of .240 on the season, which puts them at 10th out of 15 teams. The club is 14th in home runs with 110, eighth in hits (1,012), and ninth in runs (546).
The bright spot on the Padres offense is Manny Machado. He leads the team on average (.300), home runs (22), RBIs (76), hits (131), OBP (.371), and OPS (.898). It’s hard to imagine where the Padres would be without Machado’s bat in 2022. Ha-Seong Kim has the second-highest batting average on the club at .253.
The Padres need someone to help Machado on offense. It looks like Soto will be that player. He is hitting .286 for the Padres. Soto’s OBP with San Diego is (.428), and his OPS is (.964).
Pitching
While the Padres have had below-average hitting, the team’s pitching has been very good. San Diego has the fourth-best team ERA in the National League at 3.73.
Yu Darvish leads the team in wins (10) on 23 starts. He also has the most strikeouts on the team, with 147. Darvish does not have the best ERA (3.39) among San Diego’s starters, that goes to Joe Musgrove, who has a 2.91 ERA.
Fielding
The Padres are the No. 6 team in the NL in fielding, with a fielding percentage of .987. The one concern about the fielding is that the other Wild Card teams, the Braves, and Phillies, have better fielding percentages and fewer errors than San Diego.
Our pick
Not having Tatis is going to hurt the Padres down the stretch. When the club signed Soto, it expected to have Tatis and Soto in the lineup for the playoff push. That tandem would have helped the Padres a great deal. I still think Soto will help get the team into the playoffs, but it is going to be tight.
Pick: San Diego Padres to make the 2022 National League Playoffs.
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