Padres News: Manny Machado's Offense Rolls As Dominican Republic Catches Another WBC Win

Friars star clicking behind the bat and leading his country to greatness.

There are few players in the MLB that have had a similar year to Manny Machado. The star slugger for the San Diego Padres led his team on a magical postseason run in 2022 that was only cut short by the Philadelphia Phillies, secured an extension with the Friars for the remainder of his career, and is now representing the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He also has the pleasure of taking the field with a number of his Gaslamp teammates.

The Dominican Republic has gone 2-1 in tournament play thus far and currently sit in second place in Pool D, only trailing the 3-0 Venezuela squad. Whoever wins the pool will face the winner of Pool C and it looks like Machado is heating up just in time to help his country make a push.

The 2022 NL MVP finalist connected on a home run against Israel that flew 437 feet and gave his team their second score on route to a 10-0 victory. This is the second straight game in which he has connected on a ball and sent it out of the park in the WBC.

The construction that has gone into this roster can draw a lot of comparisons to the route the Friars took this past offseason. Both teams filled out their lineups from top to bottom when it comes to pitching, out fielding, and especially slugging. The Dominican Republic has multiple players outside of Machado that can just rake and we will see them take the plate again today in an important game against Puerto Rico.