Former Padres All-Star Says 'I Feel Like It's Not a Team Anymore'

Last summer, the San Diego Padres hosted a reunion for members of their 1984 National League pennant-winning team. To a man, the retired players praised the current team for playing a better brand of baseball than the 2023 team that missed the postseason altogether.

“They’re playing more as a team this year,” Garry Templeton said, via the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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“I love watching them because they’re a team," Tim Flannery told the Union-Tribune's Bryce Miller. "I couldn’t watch them the last couple years.”

What a difference a year makes. Now, with the Padres finally snapping a six-game losing streak and falling to third place in the National League West, the team appears less cohesive than ever to at least one alumnus.

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"Early in the season I was saying 'this is a team.' I feel like it's not a team anymore for some reason," former Padres closer Heath Bell said on the latest episode of Friar Territory. "It's getting a little bit more individual. We need to get back to a team."

The Padres have lost six straight games.

The offense has disappeared, the bullpen is scuffling and the defense has been ugly.@HeathBell21's solution?

"They need to go get drunk. They need to go get hammered as a team." 😂

FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/zMXmMLfaK5 pic.twitter.com/AsZl01HCa6
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) May 23, 2025

Bell went on to suggest a variety of team bonding activities, everything from barbecues to Bad Bunny concerts to getting drunk.

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Maybe a little extracurricular bonding would serve the team well.

The Padres suffered consecutive sweeps at the hands of the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. They were outscored 34-9 and squandered 2.5 games in the National League West standings during the streak before finally beating the Atlanta Braves on Friday.

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Six of the nine runs during their six-game skid crossed the plate Thursday in Toronto. It was a strong statement by the lineup one day after the Jays tossed a 14-0 shutout.

Nonetheless, the Padres managed to lose 7-6 in 11 innings, despite scoring once in the 10th and again in the 11th.

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Team chemistry in baseball is difficult if not impossible to quantify. Harder still is connecting team chemistry to specific outcomes on the field.

The task of figuring out how to get the Padres back to a more team-centric brand of baseball is now left to the players and manager Mike Shildt.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.