Padres' Craig Stammen Gets Brutally Honest on Early Season Struggles

So far, the opening two series for the San Diego Padres of the 2026 season haven't according gone to plan.

San Diego first dropped two of three games to the Detroit Tigers to open the year, and they have now lost two in a row to the San Francisco Giants.

The Padres currently are 1-4 to open the season, and this team just simply hasn't played good baseball. Entering the year, there were real questions around the starting rotation for the Padres, and to this point, it's been a problem.

Under first-year manager Craig Stammen, it was always going to be tough for San Diego to stay competitive if the pitching didn't hold up. But Stammen didn't shy away from the struggles that the team has seen over the first week of the season.

“Yeah, we’re not playing our best right now," Stammen said after Tuesday's 9-3 loss to the Giants.

Playing in the NL West may also cause some problems for the Padres, and this team can't afford to go down too many games in the standings. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the clear favorites, but the Arizona Diamondbacks and Giants are also threats to San Diego.

Starting games on the right foot was the plan for San Diego entering the season, but that just hasn't happened. Even Stammen commented on this, saying it's tough to open games by going down early on.

“It’s always tough when you get down early,” Stammen said, “especially in that first inning where you get in the dugout and you’re already down three.”

Before the year started, star Fernando Tatis Jr. tried to challenge the rest of the lineup to start games fast, in part because of the questions around the starting rotation. However, it's been a rough time for this team so far.

“We need to come off the gate hauling ass, putting pressure right away,” Tatis said this spring to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That probably will be the easiest pitcher we face. So we better get out of the gate going.”

Tatis has struggled to open the new year, hitting .235 with zero home runs and only one run batted in so far. The star has been the catalyst for the Padres offense over the years, so he will need to get going for this team to have a chance.

It's been an unfortunate start for the Padres in 2026, but there is a lot of time left to turn things around. San Diego has the talent to make it happen, but the changes will need to be made on the field before it's too late.