'It's Baseball': Padres' Manny Machado Discusses Brutal Early Season Struggles

The San Diego Padres have been one of the more interesting teams across baseball this season, figuring out how to win games without the services of their star players.

San Diego has seen its three best players open the new year with significant struggles at the plate, but it somehow hasn't impacted the success of the team.

Fernando Tatis Jr. still hasn't hit a home run, Jackson Merrill is struggling mightily and Manny Machado hasn't looked like anywhere near his usual self. And yet, San Diego is just a half game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

Focusing on Machado, he's played in 43 games this year, hitting. 182 with six home runs and 20 runs batted in, while posting an OPS of .604.

The issues at the plate have been a little alarming, to say the least, but Machado doesn't worried at this point in the year. The Padres infielder responded to the struggles, saying simply, "it's baseball," in a conversation with the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“Listen man, it’s a little bit of unlucky, there’s a little bit of, you know, [mechanical] stuff going on,” Machado said. “Just a little bit of everything, I mean, it’s baseball. We’ve been facing some really good pitchers, and it’s kind of tough to get yourself into the rhythm.

"But hey, I’ve seen it for a long time. It isn’t going to sustain. You’re going to get out of things.”

While the team has been able to stay competitive so far without Machado and the other stars hitting, this isn't a recipe for long-term success. San Diego has goals of winning a World Series this season, and the team is going to need its best players to get going at the plate.

But the team's success without the top of the lineup producing is impressive, and could bode well for San Diego down the line.

Machado seems to only care about the team winning games, even if his numbers are down.

“It’s never easy to suck,” Machado said “But we’re winning ballgames, which is most important. At the end of the day, it’s about what the team needs. Right now, that’s what the team is doing. We’re winning ballgames. I will keep working on trying to get hits.”

As for Tatis, he is still without a home run, hitting .233 with 15 RBIs and an OPS of .586. Merrill is hitting .205 with four home runs, 18 RBIs and an OPS of .600.

But as long as the Padres keep winning games, it will help silence the critics of Machado, Tatis and Merrill. However, if the team were to fall in the standings, the noise would get louder — so something will need to break through for the stars sooner rather than later.

Maybe a matchup with the Dodgers in a raucous Petco Park environment this week is exactly what the doctor ordered.

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