San Diego Padres Simulated Season Week 1: Off to a Slow Start
We simulate through the first week of the MLB season for the San Diego Padres to get a look at what could have been if not for the suspension of the season.
Like many of you, I’m desperate for some baseball action. That’s why I went out and bought MLB The Show for Playstation 4 and have been playing a ton of baseball. We’ll use that platform to simulate the San Diego Padres 2020 season.
Hopefully we’ll have real baseball back soon, but until then, we’ll continue running this simulation and posting the results every Friday.
My hope is to have roster and lineup discussions with you in the chat with how I set the lineup and what you would do.
So please make sure you comment down below so we can make this as interactive as possible.
To begin, let’s take a look at the roster that I’ve put together to start the season.
Starting Lineup:
Fernando Tatis. Jr. — SS
Tommy Pham — LF
Manny Machado — 3B
Eric Hosmer — 1B
Wil Myers — RF
Brian Dozier — 2B
Francisco Mejia — C
Trent Grisham — RF
Bench:
Starting Rotation:
Bullpen:
I let the computer mostly determine the roster, but I think that’s about what it would have been.
You could argue it’s better to let Quantrill go to Triple-A and get more starts, but especially early in the season it’s been nice to have him as a long reliever.
Week 1 Results:
I won’t go game-by-game here for you to save you the agony, but it was not a great first week for the Padres as they went 2-5 losing both of their first two series to being 2020.
Chris Paddack did outduel Mike Soroka in a great game against the Braves, but other than that it was a pretty lackluster performance during Opening Week.
Paddack does have a 2.19 ERA in 12.1 innings with 16 strikeouts, so he’s off to a great start on the mound.
Lucchesi has been good in his first two starts with a 2.84 ERA and 9 strikeouts in 12.2 innings.
The bullpen has surprisingly been an issue with Pagan, Stammen, and Pomeranz all getting lit up in the first week. Hopefully they settle down.
Offensively, you’ll be happy to know that Machado is crushing the ball with 2 home runs and 7 RBI through seven games with a .355 OBP.
Unfortunately, he’s about the only one hitting. Tatis Jr. and Pham are hitting .160 and .214 respectively.
Mejia is batting .273 with a .360 OBP, while Hosmer has a couple of early home runs.
We really need the bats to get going.
And just so you know, I am not playing these games, I’m simulating them. But I am making coaching decisions while it sims (when to pinch hit, change pitchers, bunt, etc.).
I hope you all enjoy this exercise and will participate with me down in the chat. It’s not the real thing, but it’s as close as we’re going to get right now.