Padres 2020 Postseason Run Starts Against Main Competitor

We breakdown the opening series matchup between the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks who will battle for a postseason spot.

Most people are projecting the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks to be battling for second place in the National League West this year.

And as we know now, the second-place team in each division will be guaranteed a spot in the 2020 postseason.

That creates even more intrigue in the Padres opening series matchup against the snakes. Even though the postseason has been expanded now, making it much easier for both teams to get in, every game still holds major significance.

Whichever team comes out on top of this series will have a major leg up, especially when you consider tie-breakers for playoff spots come down to head-to-head and division records.

So let’s breakdown the pitching matchups for each game and see how the Padres come away with this series win.

Game 1 – Madison Bumgarner vs. Chris Paddack

The Diamondbacks will break out their shiny new toy on Opening Day in MadBum. But certainly, he’s somebody the Padres are very familiar with.

In MadBum’s career he’s made 39 starts against the Padres (1 relief appearance) with a 3.46 ERA, 15 wins, and 258 strikeouts in 257.1 innings.

However, last year he had just an ERA of four against the Padres in 27 innings.

Fernando Tatis Jr. owned him last year going 4-for-6 with a home run against the lefty. Wil Myers was 3-for-9 with 2 home runs against MadBum in 2019.

Paddack made three starts against the Diamondbacks last year going at least 5.1 in each of those starts and he never allowed more than 1 earned run in any of those outings.

Not surprisingly, Ketel Marte was the one Diamondbacks player that had much success against Paddack last year going 4-for-6 off him.