San Diego Padres: 3 shocking statistics through the team's first 50 games

Through the first 50 games of the 2023 MLB season, the San Diego Padres are 23-27 and in fourth place in the National League West. Thanks to plenty of high expectations surrounding a talented team soaking up plenty of payroll, neither are things that would likely have been believed before the season began.

So what has happened to the Padres through the first 50 games? Let's dive into three statistics that show the state of the team and why it's struggled until this milestone.

San Diego Padres stat to know: Team batting average

Through the first 50 games of the season, San Diego ranks next-to-last among MLB's 30 teams with a team batting average of .224. Only the Oakland A's (.222) rank lower, and that team enters Friday's play with a record of 10-41.

The perhaps frightening part is that the numbers have actually gotten worse in recent games. With hopes that the veteran-laden team would gel and be boosted by the return of Fernando Tatis Jr., the Padres are hitting a collective .199 over the past 15 games. Only the Kansas City Royals (which won the recent three-game series in San Diego) and A's have been worse during that stretch.

Certainly the Padres have been scoring runs in recent games (25 in the past four games as the Padres have gone 3-1 during that stretch), but much of the scoring has come via the long ball. San Diego has 17 home runs over the past 15 games (tied for 11th among MLB clubs during the stretch). The Padres are still having issues stringing hits together and getting them at critical times ... and that brings us to our next point.

San Diego Padres stat to know: Bullpen is getting it done

We had a pair of negatives in our first two stats, so let's look at a positive to wrap things up ... and that is the job that is being done by the bullpen when the ball is handed to them.

Through San Diego's first 50 games, the Padres bullpen has posted a combined WHIP of 1.19 (the fourth-lowest mark in MLB) and opposing batters are hitting just .219 against the Padres bullpen, the third-lowest average in MLB. San Diego's bullpen has been holding it together, especially late in the games. Consider the Padres are 20-3 when leading after seven innings and 21-1 when leading after eight, and you'll see that, if San Diego can get the lead, Josh Hader and company have had the ability to hold it down.

Entering Friday's opener in the Bronx against the New York Yankees, Hader's ERA+ sits at an impressive 480 on the season. Nick Martinez (137), Steven Wilson (129) and Brent Honeywell (122) are all in triple-digits as well.

If Padres fans are looking for positives so far this season, the relief corps certainly qualifies as that.