Padres must dominate White Sox to better forecast postseason fate

The San Diego Padres and their fanbase have to feel pretty good at the moment, right? The Padres are the top NL Wild Card team, have pieced together arguably the best starting rotation in the National League, and are less than two weeks away from making a return to the MLB postseason.

Even better, the Padres welcome the hapless Chicago White Sox to Petco Park over the weekend. Chicago is one of the worst teams ever assembled in Major League Baseball history; seriously, they're that bad. And that makes the upcoming series all the more important.

San Diego cannot afford to sleepwalk through the next three games against the White Sox. These are still major league ballplayers, and some of them are fighting for a spot on the roster next season or their next contract. Furthermore, the final week of the 2024 season will be no picnic for Mike Shildt's club.

The Padres have to dominate the White Sox with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks on deck

As easy as this upcoming series against the White Sox should be, the next two will be difficult. After Sunday's home finale against the White Sox, the Padres travel to Chavez Ravine to face to the Los Angeles Dodgers. After that, San Diego closes out the regular season in the desert with three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

LA is flying high, especially after Shohei Ohtani's record setting 50/50 season. The Dodgers still hold a four-game lead on the Padres in the NL West, and with six of their final nine games coming against the Colorado Rockies, it seems foolish to think that the Friars can overtake Los Angeles in their pursuit of another division crown.

As tough as that series against LA will be, the following three-game set against the D-backs might be just as treacherous. Arizona is two games back of San Diego heading into Game 2 of their four-game weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers. With the Brew Crew having already secured a playoff spot, there's incentive for them to rest some of their stars and keep their rotation fresh. There's potential for the Diamondbacks to flip the script during the final series of the season, and shift the venue from Petco Park to Chase Field.

In order to keep that from happening, San Diego needs to sweep Chicago this weekend. There's honestly no excuse. A series win is fine, but taking all three games from the lowly White Sox needs to be the Friars focus.

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