Padres watched Manny Machado fast-forward spring with his WBC departure looming

Spring training is normally about patience. For the Padres, Manny Machado doesn’t have time for that right now.

Because while many are treating February like a warm-up, Machado is on a very real clock — one that ends with him leaving Padres camp after Friday’s Cactus League game to join Team Dominican Republic for the World Baseball Classic. And on Feb. 26 in Goodyear, he made it obvious what that means: no easing in. No “let’s see how it feels.” Just get game-ready now.

Manny Machado’s two-homer jolt gave the Padres exactly what they needed fast

Per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, Machado launched his first two homers of the spring in an 11-10 loss to the Reds, including a 422-foot grand slam off the batter’s eye that instantly turned a random spring box score into a reminder that elite hitters can find their timing fast when they decide it’s time. 

But the homers aren’t the headline for San Diego. The deadline is.

Machado had been 0-for-7 in Cactus League play before the breakout, and it didn’t matter. The point wasn’t that he got hot. The point was that he’s deliberately compressing a normal spring ramp-up into a handful of plate appearances — to the extent that he was still taking at-bats deep into the game because, as he put it, the body feels good and he wants to keep stacking reps. 

That’s great news for Machado and Team D.R. It’s also a sneaky complication for the Padres. When your franchise tone-setter leaves camp early, it changes the ecosystem. It changes how pitchers game-plan in intrasquad settings. It even changes the vibe — because when he’s on the field, the inning feels serious. When he’s not, spring can drift into “who’s trying to make the roster” mode fast.

And that’s why Thursday served as a proof-of-life moment that Machado’s swing can click into place on demand — and because it hints the Padres won’t be stuck waiting until late March for their lineup heartbeat to show up.

The Padres don’t need Machado arriving to the regular season already in midseason posture. If fast-forwarding is what it takes, then the two-homer night wasn’t just fun. It was the plan working, right before the plan walks out the door.