Padres News: Assessing Importance of Friars' Series Vs San Fransisco Giants
Chaos is definitely a term in which the San Diego Padres have become quite familiar with in the 2023 season. With heavy expectations and an even heavier payroll looming over them as Spring Training got started, many of the squad's bigger questions were ignored. The general stigma was that even if the rest of the roster wasn't as polished as their stars, the amount of generated runs would account for it all.
We don't have to dive too much into the team's struggles within these past two months but when looking at their most recent chaos, I like what Fernando Tatis Jr. said after his huge Sunday performance against the Tampa Bay Ryas. He looks to create the chaos himself and even when it's coming from the other side, he wants to stay one step ahead of them.
The Padres are playing some of their best baseball right now and taking home a series against the best team in the MLB (Rays) was the cherry on top of it all. Through all of the the slumps and injuries, SD is still able to hang with the top clubhouses when they are not getting caught up in the noise.
And that same mentality must continue in this new series against a red-hot San Fransisco Giants squad.
The Giants are in the midst of a seven-game win streak and just swept the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers with ease. When you take a look at the NL West standings along with the NL wild card race, the Friars have definitely been inching back closer and closer.
They are just four wins behind both the Dodgers and the Giants and seeing that LA will be facing off against a streaking Angels squad as well, the Friars have a prime opportunity in front of them to really catch up to both clubhouses in the standings.
By no means will it be easy... all four games will see the Padres as visitors at Oracle Park. However, this is the perfect type of series for San Diego to prove that they can be a contender this year. Their stars are starting to find their rhythm and they have been able to stay poised during key moments of matches.
Joe Musgrove addressed the upcoming series best.
“The Giants are hot right now,” Musgrove said. “… They’re on a little hot streak here. We’re hot too. … These division games are a real chance for us to take some games back and get back and get back in the mix.”
(Via The San Diego-Union Tribune)
We'll see everybody tonight!
