Autopsies on the Padres' disastrous season are in
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Padres pitcher Blake Snell after giving up a home run in May. Photo: Denis Poroy/Getty Images
The San Diego Padres have not yet been officially eliminated from the playoffs yet, but they're in fourth place in their division and MLB reporters are beginning to drop analyses of what went so wrong one year after they came three wins shy of a World Series appearance.
Driving the news: The Athletic's deep dive, based on more than a dozen interviews, blamed the disastrous year on "institutional failure" caused by general manager A.J. Preller, whose team suffers from "deep cultural issues" that start at the top and filter down to the players.
- The Union-Tribune, in its own postmortem on the lost season, concluded from anonymous interviews with players, the team lacks a "winning culture" in part from star third baseman Manny Machado, and the fact that the team's best players aren't its hardest workers.
Why it matters: The Padres weren't just among a handful of favorites to win the World Series at the start of the year. They were charting a new path for mid-market franchises by building a business case for spending money to build a winner.
- The team's star-studded roster had the third highest payroll in the league, and fans answered in kind with the third highest attendance in the league.
What they're saying: "It's probably more of a case study in management," one ex-staffer told The Athletic, which said it was especially true of Preller's relationship with manager Bob Melvin.
- "In some sense here, I feel that the finger gets pointed at the next guy," one player told The Athletic.
- "I think we just didn't want it," Machado told the U-T. "We should have wanted it more."
What to watch: The Padres have not yet been officially eliminated from the playoffs yet, but they're in fourth place in their division and MLB reporters are beginning to drop investigations into what went so wrong one year after they came three wins shy of a World Series appearance.