Manny Machado captures the uneasy truth behind the Padres’ start

Given how the season started, it's hard to complain about the fact that the San Diego Padres are leading the NL West (by half a game) on May 13. The Los Angeles Dodgers have looked surprisingly mortal in recent weeks, to be sure, but the Friars have been doing the heavy lifting to get to this point.

They wrestled control of first place in the division away from the Dodgers thanks to a walk-off win on Mother's Day, courtesy of a sac fly from Manny Machado.

However, there's still an uneasy aura surrounding this team, which hasn't hit or pitched particularly well. Their +1 run differential only ranks seventh in the National League, and is more indicative of a team that should actually be .500 rather than seven games over it.

Machado acknowledged that fact, saying that the team is "getting the job done" by producing timely hits, though he (and the other players) knows that this formula isn't sustainable over the long run.

Padres' hot start isn't sustainable at this team-wide pace

On the whole, the Padres have actually been subpar on both sides of the ball this year. Their offense ranks 24th in wRC+ (92) and runs scored (174), while the pitching staff sits 16th in ERA (4.13). They also haven't made up for that in the field, with middle-of-the-road figures in Outs Above Average (+4) and Defensive Runs Saved (+3).

Of course, within that, there have been some elite individual performances. Xander Bogaerts is experiencing a renaissance at the plate, Michael King is pitching like a true No. 1 option, and Mason Miller is in the midst of one of the most dominant relief seasons this century.

But those are balanced out by various underperformers, including Fernando Tatis Jr.'s inexplicable power outage, the continued struggles of Jackson Merrill and Machado, and a rotation besieged by injuries.

Baseball is as much a team sport as any in the world; you can win games thanks to one or two players carrying the load, but that strategy isn't sustainable in the long term. We all saw what happened last year during the playoffs, when the Padres mustered just five total runs in three games against the Chicago Cubs.

That's what Machado is preaching right now. In hopes of avoiding a similar fate in 2026, the Friars have to become a more cohesive unit. Some things should self-correct -- Tatis is going to hit a home run eventually -- but few teams can survive when their top three hitters all own an OPS below .650.

San Diego should be content to ride this clutch wave for now, but the Dodgers will wake up at some point over the summer. To hold them off, the whole roster will need to step up.

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