Burn the Ships

The San Diego Padres are, for maybe the first time all season, firing on all cylinders. It's a beautiful thing to see.

Man, this has been a long season filled with a ridiculous amount of storylines and drama for the San Diego Padres. The one thing it was lacking was a winning streak that scared the rest of the league, and it looks like they saved that one for the end.

The Padres are 82-66, making this the first season since 2010 where they will finish with more than 79 wins. It also means there are 14 games left to play and, hoo boy, the team looks ready to do some damage in those 14 games.

Dennis Lin @dennistlin

Since Bob Melvin called them out, the Padres have gone 4-0 while outscoring the opposition 25-4.

I had my doubts that they would be able to keep this up against a very good Cardinals team, but it looked like more of the same from the Padres last night. Even against Adam Wainwright, who has been great this year and usually tortures San Diego, they were constantly getting on base and knocking guys in.

The Padres had twice as many hits as the scoreless Cardinals last night, thanks in part to a surprisingly stellar performance from Mike Clevinger.

This is what I’ve been waiting for all season. A stretch where everything is going right for the Padres. It doesn’t hurt that, at the same time, the Phillies and Brewers are collapsing.

The starting rotation, even the guys who have been shaky, is pitching its ass off when the team needs it the most. Guys that have been gas cans (Musgrove, Clevinger, Manaea) are all ironing out issues and throwing some of their best games of the season. The other guys (Darvish, Snell) are continuing to dominate.

The bullpen, which looked primed to derail the season a few months ago, might be the strongest in baseball right now. Josh Hader has re-found his form (IMHO), Nick Martinez might be the hottest pitcher in baseball, and seemingly anyone else jogging in from the Padres’ bullpen (minus Stammen) is doing so with dominant numbers and a chip on their shoulder.

I could go all over the place with the offense, but we might as well stay focused on Juan Soto. We’ve been waiting for him to get out of his slump since he got to San Diego. Check this out:

• First 35 games w/ SD: .202/.375/.319

• Last 4 games: .467/.556/.800

You know that moment in Happy Gilmore where the main character says, “Happy learned how to put. Uh oh.” I feel that way about Juan Soto right now.

Oh sure, the Padres heard your jokes about another historic collapse. They heard the wondering about if Juan Soto was ever going to come out of this one or if the team was just cursed. They were probably going to make the playoffs then. Now, they might be destined for something more.

Shoutout to (team leader?) Jake Cronenworth for writing “Burn the Ships” on the team’s white board the other day. It might just be the perfect mentality for the moment. This is not a time to look back or make backup plans. The Padres are here, the playoffs are waiting, and the only way to go is forward with all of their might and vigor.

And, yes, I may have purchased a “Burn the Ships” t-shirt late last night.