Shooting For a Wild Card
Two teams I think people expected to see in the World Series playoffs (and hopefully we still will) are the Padres and the Red Sox. However, with how both teams have been performing in the second half of the season so far, they’re going to need to bring their best in order to be in position for wild card games.
The Red Sox are currently fifth in the American League (AL), one win ahead of the A’s after yesterdays win against the Rangers. They’re in a better playoff position than the Padres but have recently taken a dive, largely when it comes to the team’s defense. Over their last ten games the Red Sox are 7-3, most notable in the L-10 being the Red Sox getting swept by the Yankees.
A big area of improvement for the Red Sox’ defense is turning ground balls into outs - the team has allowed for 0.275 batting average on ground balls with no other team having worse than 0.263 this season. The Red Sox are also hoping that the return of Chris Sale will help keep them in a Wild Card position. In his first start back Sale allowed two runs in five innings and struck out eight against zero walks - the kind of pitching the Red Sox need for the rest of their season.
Chris Sale: Image Source
After how the Padres performed last season, they were thought to be a shoe-in for this years playoffs and that seemed to be the case at the beginning of the season but that dream is getting further from their reach. The Padres are currently sixth in the National League (NL), one win behind the Reds and are 2-8 over their last ten games.
The Padres have been slipping, largely in part because of underperforming and injuries. Their pitching has stumbled as Yu Darvish and Chris Paddack are out for injury and their offseason trade, Blake Snell, has not been playing to his full potential. It’s hopeful however that Darvish will be back this week to pitch against the Dodgers. With the Padres upcoming series’ against some pretty hefty competition like the Giants, Braves, and Astors, Darvish’s return would be a major boost.
Yu Darvish: Image Source