Manny Machado, Padres Don't Care About Their Record This Early in Season

The San Diego Padres have not necessarily gotten off to the start they might have hoped for, beginning the 2024 season 7-8. They struggled earlier in the season during their series against the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, losing six of nine games.

Despite this sub .500 record, the team isn't bothered or worried about their record. In fact, several players are unaware what their record even is. Manny Machado is one of those players who does not care about their record, and instead wants to prioritize playing good baseball.

“Do I care right now? No,” Machado said, via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I think we’re playing good baseball. And that’s all we can show at the end of the day.”

Padres manager Mike Shildt emphasized that the season is still young and the primary focus is on improving so that they will be ready toward the end of the season, when their performance will count a lot more.

“If we’re going to be the best at getting better, we’re going to see continual improvement and gain from our experiences every day and gain from other people’s experiences as a collective group,” Shildt said, via Acee. “We do that every day, we’re gonna continue to improve. We do that, we’re gonna feel good about where we are at the end of the year. There’s some learning curve with everything that starts (at) the beginning of a season.”

There is certainly more than plenty of time for the Padres to improve their record to be contenders this season. Divisions and Wild Card spots are not claimed in April, but these wins and losses do count toward the total and could matter significantly by the end of the year.

Getting some more wins won't be easy against their next opponent, as the Padres begin their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday.