The Padres have Become the Most Slept on Team in the MLB!!

·52 min·5 clips

Why are the Padres, with their elite bullpen and improved lineup, being projected below teams like the Giants and Pirates?

The episode begins with the hosts expressing optimism about the Padres despite low external projections from sources like FanGraphs. They identify the starting rotation, with health questions around Joe Musgrove, Michael King, and Nick Pivetta, as the primary concern but not a fatal flaw. The bullpen, featuring Mason Miller and Yohan Morajon, is hailed as arguably the best in baseball. The lineup is analyzed as significantly improved from last year, with additions like Nick Castellanos and Miguel Andujar providing more power. A major segment critiques the losses of Dylan Cease and Luis Arraez, arguing they were not impactful contributors and may be upgrades. The debate over the fifth starter spot involves names like Walker Buehler, Tristan McKenzie, and Griffin Canning, but the hosts shift focus to the importance of the top four starters' health. They extensively discuss lineup construction, criticizing last year's passive approach and stagnant order. A proposed optimal top four is Jake Cronenworth, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, and Manny Machado. The hosts compare Cronenworth's on-base skills favorably to Luis Arraez's from last year. They conclude by stating the 2025 Padres are the most well-rounded team entering a season in several years, with depth and fewer glaring holes than previous campaigns.

As heard by us

A loose, useful Padres return builds its slept-on-team case around bullpen belief, lineup optimism, and unresolved rotation questions.

Friar Talk comes back from a long layoff with a focused Padres read: this team may be far more dangerous than the wider conversation suggests, even if that does not turn them into a sure-thing heavyweight.

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Why you'd press play

For when you suspect the Padres' ugly World Series odds did not price in the bullpen.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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