Padres' Yu Darvish continues to regain form after rigid start from injury return

Once Yu Darvish went on the injured list before the 2025 regular season even started, Padres fans started to wonder what the team's postseason odds would look like. Darvish has been a mainstay with San Diego since 2021, offering All-Star-level pitching in his first four seasons. Without him to start this season, and not knowing how long he'd be on the shelf, it was difficult to project a strong year for San Diego.

But Darvish has been back for over a month now, and things were initially pretty rocky for him. He allowed 17 runs in his first 16 2/3 innings, which didn't help calm those fans' nerves much. Panic didn't begin to settle in until his fourth start, which came against the Cardinals, allowing eight runs while recording just 10 outs. But Darvish bounced back in his next outing, firing seven scoreless frames against the Mets to show the fans that he's still capable of dominating.

Now that he's had enough time to settle in, Darvish's next couple of starts would be crucial to determine which direction he was going in. Is he still good? Is he still recovering from the elbow injury?

On August 11 at San Francisco, Darvish looked like his vintage self once again, dialing six strikeouts with no walks in six innings. He allowed one run in the Padres' win, which was the Friars' 12th in their last 14 games. Now is the perfect time for Darvish to find his groove, just as the Padres are streaking at the right time with the postseason looming.

Vintage Yu Darvish could be back as Padres continue hot stretch in August

One thing about Darvish through his first seven starts in 2025 is that his slider has not been very effective. He has thrown that pitch over 19 percent of the time this year, but against the Giants on Monday night, he held back a bit more, throwing the slider 11 percent of the time.

From that, his other horizontal pitches were much more difficult to hit, leading to six punch-outs, including one on a slider below.

There's a reason that Darvish has stuck around for so long in Major League Baseball. He turns 39 years old this week, but he continues to reinvent himself, tinker with different pitches, and apply that effectively to piece together strong starts.

If Darvish can maintain what he's done in two of his last three starts, then San Diego might be cooking with some fire as we approach the final month-and-a-half of regular season games. Darvish is an ace, so if he pitches like one, success will undoubtedly follow this team into October.