Padres convince fans they’re back on track with series win vs. NL West basement-dwellers

The San Diego Padres turned in a pair of huge offensive performances this weekend, and it is restoring faith in the fanbase that the Friars can have success in the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Padres won 11-3, with four players having multi-hit games and four players contributing a home run. On Sunday, San Diego's offense kept it up, with five players delivering multiple hits, three players driving in multiple runs, and a home run off the bat of Jackson Merrill.

The Padres' last two days has almost single-handedly turned around the offense, which was falling into another period of stagnancy. In the previous five games, San Diego had scored 11 runs, averaging just over two per game. It's impressive the team was able to go 2-3 during their five-game offensive slump.

Padres are starting to turn the corner just in time with 2025 playoffs looming

We've seen this before from the Padres. Last weekend, San Diego defeated the Rockies 10-8 and 8-1 on back-to-back games. They followed it up by failing to score more than four runs in each of their next five games.

The Padres need to make sure that this time, they don't allow the offense to go stagnant again. With the New York Mets coming up, the Padres have a chance to reel off another series victory against a team that has been in a downward spiral.

San Diego's success against the Mets will start with the offense. If the bats stay hot, they should not have any trouble defeating the Mets. A sweep over the Mets could be especially huge, considering that the Dodgers are playing the Phillies at the same time. If San Diego can sweep the Mets and get some help from Philadelphia against the Dodgers, the NL West could soon have a new leader.

And it's no secret how important winning the West would be. The winner of the NL West would get to host a three-game series against the No. 6 seed. The runner-up would go to Chicago for three games against the Cubs. That's a massive swing of seeding, which makes it all the more important that San Diego keep their bats hot and extend their winning streak.