2 reasons San Diego Padres fans should give up on 2023 and 1 why they shouldn't

San Diego Padres lacking fight is a reason to give up on 2023

If your team is struggling, you still want to see them put up a fight on the field. That has not always been the case with the Padres and recently, frustration has boiled over with comments from Bogaerts and Manny Machado.

After dropping two out of three games at home to the Washington Nationals to close out their last homestand, Bogaerts voiced his frustration to reporters. “Lack of fight — I don’t even feel any of that. You know?” Bogaerts said. “But maybe trying to do too much might be one.”

“C’mon, man. We’re playing the Nationals. … I don’t think they have playoff aspirations. I mean, they obviously have a young team and they fight. They do fight. But I wouldn’t say anyone picked the Nationals to be in the playoffs. So you have to beat the teams that you have to beat.”

You would think that the comments would have added some fight to the locker room, but they didn't. They proceeded to get swept by the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates, before dropping two out of three to the Cincinnati Reds. San Diego has lost seven of their last eight series. In Pittsburgh, it was Machado's turn to voice his frustration.

“We need a little more urgency as a team,” he said. “We just do.”

Yes, they do, but following that comment, they proceeded to lose 7-1 that night to the Pirates in the middle game of the three-game set. It's clear that the frustration is boiling over and if the Friars are still not playing without much fight after those comments from Bogaerts and Machado, then just how much fight do they have? Not much apparently.