Manny Machado's August power outage is giving Padres some unwelcome deja vu

The latest episode of Manny Machado looks far too familiar. Last season, the Padres veteran third baseman struggled mightily in August, finishing with a .590 OPS and one home run. Machado turned it up a little in September 2025, but the tail-off was still very present.

Machado is going through the same problems this August. Entering August 22, he boasts a .292 slugging percentage, which is good for one double and one home run. He knows he's going to draw criticism from it, and deservingly so. But not only is he having a tough time hitting the ball, he's getting thrown out at home plate, too. Padres fans are just hoping that history doesn't continue to repeat itself. The team needs Machado to bounce back and have a strong September.

Padres cannot afford another Manny Machado collapse in the final two months of the season

To be fair to Machado, he enters Saturday batting 5-for-his-last-12, but the power numbers are still missing for the month. His problem this month has been that he is (literally) hit or miss. He's gone 0-for in 10 of his 19 games. In those other nine games, where he logged at least one hit, he is batting .486. Those numbers will play, but far too often is he coming up empty.

It also doesn't help that 15 of those 17 hits have been for singles. While it's great to get on base, Machado is San Diego's main power source. They can't keep turning to Ty France to bail out the lineup.

Let's not forget that the Padres hold a one-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final NL Wild Card spot. We're nearing the end of the regular season and the Friars cannot afford for Machado to be this hot and cold — because when he has been hot lately, it still hasn't turned into much production. The team simply needs more from their leader.

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