Padres slide in latest power rankings ahead of a grueling week originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Despite losing some big pieces over the offseason, the San Diego Padres have been playing well this season. They got off to a solid start, putting together an 18-7 stretch in April.
They were able to keep things up in May, but lately, things have been a different story.
The offense has been extremely cold, ranking last in team batting average, OBP, and slugging. That has led to a flood of losses, and now they only hold a .5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for second place in the NL East.
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Padres slide in latest power rankings ahead of a grueling week
Last week was a tough one for an offense that has been struggling. They had two road series, one against the St. Louis Cardinals and then one against the Texas Rangers.
Both teams have been playing well, and showed that against the Padres. The Cardinals took the series 2-1, and so did the Rangers, leading to a 2-4 week for San Diego.
With this, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter has bumped the Padres down a few spots in his latest power rankings from No. 12 last week to No. 15.
“The Padres spent much of the first two months of the season overperforming relative to what a patchwork rotation and a stagnant offense might have otherwise suggested, but things seem to be catching up to them now. They are 8-17 in their last 25 games with a minus-19 run differential, and things don’t get any easier this week as the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers come to town.”
The Padres now have a real test coming this week. While they return home for two series, these series are against the Braves and Dodgers, the two best teams across MLB.
If things keep going like they are going, it’s going to be tough for this team to take any games from these two teams. These power rankings may look a lot worse next week if the Padres don’t find some magic.
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