Padres 2020 Postseason Run Starts Against Main Competitor

1 of 3

Chris Paddack #59 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

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.

Dinelson Lamet #29 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

If the San Diego Padres are going to do much of anything this year they need guys like Dinelson Lamet to step up.

Game 2 – Robbie Ray vs. Dinelson Lamet

The Padres will face back-to-back lefties to start the season with Robbie Ray taking the ball in game two for the Diamondbacks.

While it wasn’t great compared to the rest of the league, San Diego did hit much better against lefties last year than they did righties.

And they hit Ray particularly well last season posting a 5.40 ERA against him in 13.1 innings (3 starts) with just 9 strikeouts for a big strikeout pitcher.

Newcomer Tommy Pham has a good history against Ray with 5 hits in 10 at-bats. You could even see Ty France get a start in that game as the right-handed hitter has had success against Ray.

Lamet did not face Arizona last year, and things did go so well against them in 2017, which has little significance on what will happen Saturday.

Game 3 – Zac Gallen vs. Garrett Richards

A lot of unknown with this one as Arizona throws out a young guy in Gallen. However, he did dominate the Padres in his lone start against them last year allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk over 7 scoreless innings with 8 strikeouts.

We’ll need Trent Grisham to step up in this one against the righty.

And then Richards has been around the block for a while, but we’re not sure what we’ll get from him in 2020.

He made two of his three abbreviated starts last year against the Diamondbacks and gave up 5 earned runs in 5 innings mostly aided by 6 walks.

Pitcher Kirby Yates #39 fist bumps catcher Austin Hedges. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

It’s highly important for the San Diego Padres to get off to a good start against the Arizona Diamondbacks in this abbreviated season.

And I think everything lines up for them to do just that.

I really like their chances in the first two games of this series going up against a couple of lefties that they’ve had success against recently.

It would not be shocking to me at all if they take the first two games of this series and go for the sweep on Sunday.

While I still think MadBum is a good pitcher, he’s clearly not what he once was. Players like Tatis, Pham, and Machado should have big weekends going up against him and Ray.

The game that actually scares me the most is on Sunday against Gallen.

He was lights out against the Padres last year — and I know that’s last year — but he’s also a really talented young pitcher that’s just getting started.

Arizona is certainly hoping he takes another step forward this year to possibly becoming the ace of their rotation, so don’t sleep on him.

And right now the Padres just don’t have a ton of great left-handed options in the lineup. Grisham and Eric Hosmer are about all they have.

We could see Josh Naylor get the start in the outfield over Myers on Sunday, or perhaps you put him in the DH spot. Maybe they find a way to get Greg Garcia in the lineup as well to add another lefty.

At some point they’re going to have to figure out how to hit right-handed pitching as that’s what you’ll see most often.

Last year they were last in the league hitting .234 against righties, so forgive me if I cringe every time they face a tough right-handed pitcher this season.

Next. Playoff Chances Increasing. dark

But overall, I still like the Padres chances of winning this series and getting off to a good start in the 2020 season.

Home / Padres News