Currently, there are five teams in Major League Baseball that have never hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy to signify a World Series victory.
And somehow, despite their recent success during the decade, one of those teams is still the San Diego Padres.
The Padres got closer to the Fall Classic last year, advancing to the National League Divisional Series before falling to their big rivals of the current era, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite winning 93 games and finishing second in the National League West, it still wasn’t enough for the Friars to make a deep championship.
And while it can be agreed that in today’s game, representing the National League in the World Series goes through Dodger Stadium, but what Padre fans might have to come to terms with is that time may be running out for their team to clinch that first championship.
Around this time last season, the Padres were as low as fourth in the NL West, before rebounding after the All-Star break and clinching the first Wild Card spot.
As of July 5, the Padres currently sit eight games behind the Dodgers in the NL West, somewhat idly going through the 2025 season.
A big change for the Padres in 2025 has come on the mound, in both good and bad ways.
Nick Pivetta has been great, currently tied for the NL lead in wins, and that’s really all the optimism that can be said about the team’s arms right now.
Dylan Cease has seen a drop in production and a rise in ERA, Joe Musgrove is on the shelf for this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Yu Darvish has been fighting elbow inflammation and is yet to toe the rubber in 2025.
As for the bats, besides the top three hitters of Machado, Tatis, and Jackson Merrill, not much can be said.
Even Luis Arraez is hitting a .282, which is lacking in his terms of production after hitting .314 and .356 the past two years.
Xander Bogaerts has spent much of 2025 on the injured list, and the bottom of the lineup has been struggling to stay above the Mendoza line for a lot of the season.
Luckily, as the sport has shown us in recent times, anything is possible in the month of October, but Manny Machado isn’t getting any younger and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s prime can only last so long.
Time is ticking, San Diego.
