SAN DIEGO (AP) — Padres owner Peter Seidler, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to bring a long-elusive World Series championship to San Diego, died on Tuesday, the team announced. He was 63.

A cause of death wasn’t disclosed. Seidler, a third-generation member of the O’Malley family that used to own the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, was a two-time cancer survivor. The team announced in mid-September that Seidler had an unspecified medical procedure in August and wouldn’t be back at the ballpark the rest of the year.

The Padres planned to open Petco Park on Tuesday afternoon for fans who wished to gather to pay respects.

“Today, our love and prayers encircle Peter’s family as they grieve the loss of an extraordinary husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement. “Peter was a kind and generous man who was devoted to his wife, children and extended family. He also consistently exhibited heartfelt compassion for others, especially those less fortunate.

“His impact on the city of San Diego and the baseball world will be felt for generations,” Greupner said. “His generous spirit is now firmly embedded in the fabric of the Padres. Although he was our Chairman and owner, Peter was at his core a Padres fan. He will be dearly missed.”

Seidler was part of a group that purchased the Padres in 2012, and he bought out Ron Fowler’s majority stake in November 2020. Seidler also bought Rawlings Sporting Goods Company Inc. in conjunction with MLB in 2018.

It was with Seidler’s blessing that the Padres boosted their payroll to about $258 million on opening day, third-highest in the majors, after making a stirring run to the NL Championship Series the previous fall. The Padres underwhelmed most of the season despite having a star-studded lineup and missed the playoffs.

Seidler shrugged off questions about whether the Padres’ big spending on players like Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts was sustainable and mentioned how badly he wanted a championship parade for a city that has never had one.

“Do I believe our parade is going to be on land or on water or on both?” he said. “Putting a great and winning team on the field in San Diego year after year is sustainable.”

Seidler scoffed at the notion that San Diego was a small market. He viewed it as a unique city where the Padres were the only major pro sports franchise after the Chargers left for Los Angeles in 2017. Fans packed Petco Park last year, where the Padres set a franchise attendance record of 3,232,310 in 79 games, including 59 sellouts. The Padres were the home team in two games against San Francisco in Mexico City.

“I am deeply saddened by the news of Peter’s passing,” Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement from Arlington, Texas, where Major League Baseball owners are holding league meetings this week. “Peter grew up in a baseball family, and his love of the game was evident throughout his life. He was passionate about owning the Padres and bringing the fans of San Diego a team in which they could always take pride.”

Machado was a personal favorite of Seidler, and the slugger received a new $350 million, 11-year deal last spring training despite saying he would opt out of the original $300 million deal he signed in 2019.

The Padres gave Bogaerts a $280 million, 11-year deal last December. In 2021, the Padres signed Fernando Tatis Jr. to a $340 million, 14-year deal. They traded for young star Juan Soto at the deadline in 2022.

Seidler’s death comes at a critical time for the franchise. The Padres are closing in on hiring a manager to replace Bob Melvin, who left for San Francisco last month after clashing with general manager A.J. Preller. The Padres also are debating whether to keep or trade Soto, who is under control for just one more season.

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The turmoil has given way to continuity.

The Padres do, indeed, plan to move forward with the same men running the team.

Manager Bob Melvin and President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller will continue in their posts, Preller confirmed Wednesday.

“Bob is our manager and is going to be our manager going forward,” Preller said.

This comes after a season in which the Padres underachieved on the field and the two primary decision makers navigated a frosty relationship.

Preller spoke to the media via a video conference on Wednesday morning. The reasoning for not doing a gathering in person, according to a team spokesman, was a matter of timing. The team felt it was important to have Preller speak this week, even as the Padres’ senior leadership is conducting meetings virtually all day every day. Melvin did not appear on the call with Preller due to a previously arranged travel commitment, the spokesman said.

A.J. Preller says reports of a rift between he and manager Bob Melvin have been overblown.

(Rob Leiter / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

After a meeting involving Preller and Melvin on Monday, the decision was made that they would continue to work together to move on from a disappointing and dysfunctional 2023. They plan to meet again next week to begin addressing plans for the offseason.

“A lot has been said in the last few weeks, but both he and I are very excited about the challenge of getting this group back to the postseason next year,” Preller said. “… I think just even in the last couple days, you know, you get a chance to recap and look at some different things and both of us feel really good about where things are going forward.”

The Padres finished 82-80, two games out of the National League’s final wild-card spot. They won 14 of their final 16 games to achieve just the 17th winning season in the franchise’s 55 years of existence, but it fell well short of expectations for a team with MLB’s third-highest payroll.

Additionally, a divide between Melvin and Preller that was present even in 2022 grew to a level that had to be addressed. Their communication waned, and they differed over player usage, roster construction and other philosophies. While the relationship was strained enough that several people around the situation opined they did not think it was salvageable, Preller on Wednesday called reports of the rift between he and Melvin “overblown.”

Padres Chairman Peter Seidler preferred to keep both men.

He made that clear last week to those who are running the team’s day-to-day operations while he recovers from a medical issue. And the team issued a statement from Seidler Monday morning that was intended to affirm his intentions while also pledging to undertake necessary changes to get back to the playoffs.

“What we talked about here in the last couple of days it’s ultimately about how we get this better, how we do this better,” Preller said Wednesday. “I think Bob understands that, for my job, it’s to put the roster together. I have a ton of respect for Bob and his experiences and the way he leads our team. … I think we both feel that ultimately on the big-picture items, the belief in this group, the belief in this team, what we need to do to get it going forward, I think we got a chance to kind of reaffirm that in the last few days and feel really good about where … we’re moving on.”

Manager Bob Melvin looks on during a Sept. 4 game against the Phillies.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Melvin, who will turn 62 this month, has one year remaining on his contract. He said when he was hired before the 2022 season that he intended to manage only through ‘24, though in the spring he left open the possibility of continuing beyond that.

He has been mentioned by multiple people around the league as a potential replacement for the fired Gabe Kapler in San Francisco. It isn’t known whether Melvin is interested in that job, or others. Melvin declined comment Wednesday.

Preller, whose contract runs through 2026, continued throughout last week and into this week conducting end-of-season business mostly as usual.

The usual roster tweaks this offseason come with some intrigue.

Multiple league and team sources have said the Padres will trim payroll this offseason, likely down to around $200 million from their current level of $253 million. That would drop them from having the third-highest payroll among the 30 MLB teams but easily keep them among the top half.

Preller on Wednesday uttered the usual platitudes regarding the idea that the team will consult with pending free agent pitchers Blake Snell and Josh Hader. But it is considered highly unlikely the team brings back the market’s top available starting pitcher and reliever.

Padres left fielder Juan Soto is likely to make $30 million or more next season.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Arguably the biggest question centers on left fielder Juan Soto, who was far and away the team’s top offensive producer in 2023. He is under team control for one more season, but with his salary expected to reach at least $30 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility, the Padres have discussed the possibility of trading him this offseason.

The other possibility is signing him to a long-term contract, though the sides coming to terms on a deal that is expected to top $500 million is considered unlikely, especially a year early.

“We’ll go down that path this offseason and talk to Juan and his representatives, kind of see where things stand there,” Preller said. “What he was able to contribute, as he settled in, as the year went on, he was a consistent offensive force, one of the best in the game. And we’ll have those conversations here when we get into the offseason, kind of seeing where his head is at and figuring out if there is some common ground.”

Among the changes that could occur would be an additional voice and presence in the baseball operations department. While Preller also holds the title of general manager, adding someone in that role to work alongside him has been discussed.

“It’s something that’s been on the table, that we’ve talked about throughout different points last offseason and this year,” Preller said. “The biggest thing for myself, conversations I’ll continue to have with Peter, we just want to have as good a team, as good a leadership team as you can have. I feel good about the current group. But also, I’m always going to be open if we can add somebody that brings different experiences to the team, that can help us perform better on the field, I will always be open to that.

“We’re always talking about best practices, best ways to do things, how to be best in class. I think those are always conversations. I think obviously the first few years we were pretty realistic that we were in a rebuilding situation. And I think the marching orders (were) when we get to ‘20 we want to have a team year in year out that can contend for a World Series title. We’ve been in the playoffs a couple times and fallen short two times. We want to be there every single year. We want to be in October every year. … We’ll learn from it. If that means we’ve got to make some changes, we will.”

For now, status quo.

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SAN FRANCISCO — A 5-inch scrape on his left arm to show for his spectacular performance, Mike Yastrzemski took as much pride in his headfirst slide for the tying run as he did that dramatic splash-hit homer to end the game in the 10th inning.

BodyText_News: Yastrzemski sent a three-run shot into McCovey Cove to win it, and the San Francisco Giants rallied past the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Monday night for their season-best eighth straight victory.

Yastrzemski also connected in the sixth, giving him five career multi-homer games and two against San Diego. It was his fourth walk-off homer in the majors and second versus the Padres.

Patrick Bailey hit a tying sacrifice fly in a two-run ninth to knock in Yastrzemski, who tagged up and raced home to score with a headfirst dive into the plate.

“That was probably more exhilarating,” Yastrzemski said. “That was one of those plays where it could have ended up dropping in front. I just kind of hang out there for a second and make the right read and luckily I got in there just in time. So I was pretty fired up that the game was tied up.”

Camilo Doval (2-2) struck out Manny Machado on a 91 mph slider for the first out of the 10th and got through it unscathed for the win. It took 11 pitches to retire Machado.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler called it “nerve-wracking,” knowing the damage Machado can do.

“It was an incredible battle from a fan’s perspective,” Kapler said. “It was excellent to watch.”

Juan Soto homered twice and Ha-Seong Kim hit a two-run single in the fourth but San Diego’s undermanned bullpen couldn’t hold it.

Michael Wacha was cruising for the Padres with a 4-0 lead until giving up David Villar’s solo home run in the fifth.

Soto connected for his 11th homer of the year in the first and 12th leading off the fifth after San Diego didn’t clear the fences in its previous two games. It was his 13th career multi-homer game and first since joining the Padres last year.

Kim had three singles to back Wacha, who allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. Tim Hill pitched two hitless innings of relief with three strikeouts.

Then the Giants rallied against Luis García in the ninth.

Pinch-hitter Blake Sabol drew a leadoff walk, then Yastrzemski singled and Sabol scored on a wild pitch that advanced Yastrzemski to second. Luis Matos’ fly got Yastrzemski to third. J.D. Davis walked and Drew Carlton relieved, allowing the sac fly by Bailey before walking the next two batters to load the bases.

Ray Kerr (0-1) came in and struck out Joc Pederson to force extra innings. Pederson started the 10th as the automatic runner on second base and, after Kerr intentionally walked Thairo Estrada, Sabol dropped down a sacrifice bunt.

Padres manager Bob Melvin considers this a crucial four-game series.

“We need to pick up some games in our division, so these games seem a little bit more important even though it’s June,” Melvin said before the game.

The Giants were on a roll after a pair of impressive road sweeps against the Cardinals and Dodgers — outscoring rival Los Angeles 29-8, including a 15-0 victory Saturday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. appeared to have stolen his 13th base in the first after leading off the game with a double but the Giants challenged the call and it was ruled he was caught stealing.

Rookie right-hander Ryan Walker made his first career start as San Francisco went with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Alex Cobb was placed on the injured list Sunday with a strained left oblique muscle.

The Padres have won nine of the last 11 in the series, including both meetings April 29-30 in Mexico City.

Trainer’s room

Padres: RHP Seth Lugo is scheduled to come off the injured list and start Tuesday, his first appearance since straining his right calf May 16 covering first base. Melvin wasn’t sure what Lugo’s pitch count might be. “He’s eager to get back out there,” Melvin said.

Giants: LHP Scott Alexander was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left hamstring he hurt Sunday at Dodger Stadium. RHP Sean Hjelle was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. … 3B Casey Schmitt was held out of the starting lineup a day after being hit by a pitch in the right arm. X-rays were negative.

Up next

Lugo (3-3, 4.10 ERA) will make his ninth start of 2023, pitching opposite Giants right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (4-6, 4.31).

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SAN FRANCISCO — Manny Machado and Gary Sánchez hit three-run homers and the San Diego Padres beat San Francisco 10-0 Thursday to end the Giants’ 10-game winning streak.

“Obviously, the first inning and getting a couple of three-run homers in the first three helped,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “Runners in scoring position, a lot of good at-bats today.”

Blake Snell (4-6) won his third straight decision, striking out 11 and allowing three singles in six innings as the Padres avoided getting swept in a four-game series for the first time since 2017. Snell has an 18-inning scoreless streak and has allowed one run over 31 innings in his last five starts.

“I’m just in a zone, competing with every pitch,” Snell said. “When I have four pitches and they’re all working, that’s when I’m at my best.”

Snell, García and Ray Kerr combined to retire San Francisco’s last 13 batters in the Padres’ eighth shutout this season, a game that lasted 2 hours, 19 minutes.

San Francisco batters struck out 14 times in the Giants’ seventh shutout loss.

“Snell was as good as we’ve seen him,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.

Ha-Seong Kim added a solo homer for the Padres, who went 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Sánchez stopped an 0-for-22 slump with his three-run homer in the first off Alex Wood (2-2). Sánchez added a pair of singles to finish 3 for 5 and is hitting .214 with seven homers and 18 RBIs in 22 games since joining the Padres.

Machado doubled the lead in the third with his 10th homer.

“After three tough losses, nobody went home too terribly happy last night, so it was good to see an early response,” Melvin said.

Wood allowed six runs, four hits and four walks in 3⅓ innings. The Giants’ winning streak had been their longest since 2004.

Kim homered in the fourth off Jakob Junis. Jake Cronenworth added an RBI single in the fifth, and Nelson Cruz followed with a two-run double.

Juan Soto had his fourth straight multihit game, going 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs.

San Francisco was seeking its first four-game sweep of the Padres since 2006 and its first at home since 1993 at Candlestick Park.

Swap

San Francisco acquired outfielder Dalton Guthrie from Philadelphia for cash.

Trainer’s room

Giants: OF Mike Yastrzemski, who left Wednesday’s game with left hamstring tightness, is expected to return in the next couple of days after an MRI showed minor inflammation. … 1B/OF LaMonte Wade Jr. (right side tightness) remained out of the starting lineup for a third straight game.

Roster move

San Francisco recalled OF Bryce Johnson from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned RHP Sean Hjelle to the Triple-A farm team. Johnson started in center field and went 0 for 3.

Up next

Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove (5-2, 4.22 ERA) seeks to win his fifth decision, starting Friday against visiting San Diego and LHP Patrick Corbin (4-8, 4.89), who has lost his last three starts.

Giants: In a matchup of the top two teams in the NL West, RHP Logan Webb (6-6, 3.11) starts for the Giants and RHP Zach Davies (1-3, 7.11) for Arizona.

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In the final days before the All-Star break, the San Diego Padres host the New York Mets this week.

It’s safe to say that both teams are ready to put the first half behind them.

The Padres and Mets are two of baseball’s biggest disappointments to date, trading under .500 despite high-priced, star-studded rosters. The fact that both teams are currently 38-46 seems like appropriate symmetry.

The outlook for San Diego looks a little rosier than that for New York. The Padres actually have a plus-23 running difference. They were finished off by a 5-15 record in one-run games and a 0-7 mark in extra innings. If the tight games turn for them, the Padres could certainly make a breakthrough, and unlike the Mets, their star closer (Josh Hader) is healthy.

But San Diego has lost seven of its last eight games in a section of the game that included Washington, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. A rival team shouldn’t have too many problems against this trio.

The Mets, on the other hand, got two of San Francisco’s three wins last weekend, but that was their only straight win of the last nine. New York’s bullpen was a problem after Edwin Diaz was out with a preseason knee injury, and owner Steve Cohen acknowledged his team could be a seller by the close if things don’t improve soon.

LIGHT SPOT

In a terrible season for the Oakland Athletics, they have the major league leader in stolen bases in Esteury Ruiz. At 42, he’s already surpassed last year’s leader — Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo had 35.

Ruiz has 84 hits and 14 walks this season, so he’s trying to steal about half the time he gets to base with 50 steal attempts. Brent Rooker is Oakland’s representative at the All-Star Game, but it would have been interesting to see Ruiz play as a late-inning pinch-running option for the American League.

TRIVIA TIME

The A’s have had one player since Rickey Henderson led the American League in steals, and that player clinched the title in 2011 at 49. Who was that?

RISING

The Philadelphia Phillies ended the week on a bitter note, losing two of their three losses to Washington – suffering two losses in one run to clinch a 19-4 win. But before that, Philadelphia won a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.

The Phillies have recovered from their slow start, and after winning 19 of their last 26 games, they are just 1 1/2 games away from the final wild card in the National League. And after last year, if they can just sneak into the postseason, they know what’s possible.

FALL

The Los Angeles Angels drew in four games against the Chicago White Sox before losing two of three games to Arizona. So they had a losing record on a home side where Shohei Ohtani netted six in seven games and netted ten in his only start.

The Angels have lost a total of eight out of twelve games.

LINE OF THE WEEK

New York Yankees’ Domingo Germán scored the 24th perfect game in Major League history with an 11-0 win over Oakland on Wednesday night. He was the first pitcher from the Dominican Republic to complete a perfect game.

Germán counted three balls to just two batsmen.

COMEBACK OF THE WEEK

The Pittsburgh Pirates trailed 4-0 in game four and 7-3 in game seven before beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 on Friday night. Pittsburgh scored three runs at the bottom of the ninth game and won it by hitting a two-run home run by Carlos Santana.

According to Baseball Savant, Milwaukee had a 95.5% chance of winning by the end of the seventh field.

TRIVIA ANSWER

Coco Crisp, who tied with Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees that year.

Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed, or redistributed without permission.

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San Diego Padres (35-38, 4th in NL West) vs. San Francisco Giants (41-32, 2nd in NL West)

San Francisco; Wednesday, 9:45 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABIES: Padres: Yu Darvish (0-0); Giants: TBD

SUMMARY: The San Diego Padres visit the San Francisco Giants to end a three-game losing streak away from home.

San Francisco has a 20-17 record at home and a 41-32 overall record. The Giants batsmen have an overall batting average of .422, ranking 10th in the MLB.

San Diego has a record of 16-18 away and a record of 35-38 overall. The Padres are 4:30 in games where they have conceded a home run.

Wednesday’s game marks the teams’ fifth meeting of the season. The season series is tied 2-2.

TOP PERFORMER: Michael Conforto leads San Francisco with 12 homers while batting .419. Mike Yastrzemski is 11 of 40 with four homers and 10 RBI in his last 10 games.

Fernando Tatis Jr. leads the Padres with 15 homers while batting .568. Manny Machado is at 12 of 43 with a double, two homers and eight RBI in his last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Giants: 9-1, .283 batting average, 2.87 ERA, outperformed opponents by 43 runs

Padres: 5-5, .243 batting average, 3.86 ERA, outperformed opponents by a run

INJURIES: Giants: LaMonte Wade Jr: daily (right side strains), Scott Alexander: 15-day IL (hamstring), Alex Cobb: 15-day IL (oblique), Wilmer Flores: 10-day IL ( Foot). ), John Brebbia: 15-day IL (lat), Mitch Haniger: 10-day IL (forearm), Ross Stripling: 15-day IL (back), Heliot Ramos: 60-day IL (oblique), Roberto Perez: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Thomas Szapucki: 60-Day IL (left arm), Luis Gonzalez: 60-Day IL (back)

Padres: Preston Tucker: 10-day IL (foot), Tom Cosgrove: 15-day IL (hamstring), Luis Campusano: 60-day IL (sprained thumb), Drew Pomeranz: 60-day IL (elbow/flexor ), Robert Suarez: 60-day IL (elbow), Jose Castillo: 15-day IL (shoulder), Eguy Rosario: 60-day IL (ankle)

The Associated Press created this story using technology and data provided by Sportradar by Data Skrive.

© Data Script. All rights reserved.

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By Zach Buchanan, Nick Groke and Stephen Nesbitt

Like the Cardinals, Astros, burnt ends and the fourth Mad Max movie, some things are worth waiting for. The barbecue should take hours to do correctly. “Fury Road” came out 30 years after “Beyond Thunderdome.” And the Astros and Cardinals needed six weeks to finally show up this season.

We are now more than 25 percent through this season. Some teams are still finding their way, and others are ready to find a third gear. Some needed a while to get off the line and others are hitting their stride. But all of them are looking for that one kick to push them into new territory.

Shout-out to Keith M., who took top honors as our commenter of the week for his biting observation that it is “definitely reigning comity in here.” Kudos to Keith for his totally sincere take that wasn’t at all sarcastic and for having a good vocabulary.

All of us are still waiting for more comity in this world. Meanwhile, let’s take stock of baseball’s hierarchy this week by zooming in on one thing each team is still waiting for that might take them to the next level.

Record: 34-14
Last Power Ranking: 1

Truthfully, the Rays regulars have almost all been clicking on all cylinders these past two months. They have no star who has yet to find his footing, no should-be ace scuffling in a slow start. They are powered by a mishmash of Yandys, Randys, Wanders, Harolds and Lowes, and somehow they are still standing despite rolling out half a rotation. But we are here to pick nits. And so I will say, like a real hard-hitter, “Gosh, their backup catcher … yikes.” Yes, Francisco Mejía is batting .211 with a .590 OPS. He is doing what he did last year, just a little worse. Same with Manuel Margot. Great defense, OK hitter. So there, we knocked the Rays’ bench. That’s about it. A couple other hitters have come back to earth this month (Brandon Lowe, Wander Franco, Christian Bethancourt), along with the Rays’ win/loss record, but the way they clicked from Day 1 this season, they’re certainly capable of doing it again any day now. — Stephen Nesbitt

Record: 29-17
Last Power Ranking: 3

OK, I’m stumped. I have scrutinized the Rangers roster up and down and I’m having a hard time picking out someone important who is underperforming in a meaningful way. Sure, Jacob deGrom is out with an injury, but terrific pitching interrupted by stints on the injured list is kind of what you expect, right? Almost every lineup regular is turning in above-average offensive production. Unsurprisingly, the Rangers are scoring the most runs per game in MLB. What, am I going to pick on Robbie Grossman? He may be the weak spot in left field, but he’s actually performing better than he did a year ago. Starting pitchers Martín Pérez and Andrew Heaney are carrying mediocre ERAs, but those numbers are inflated by a few rough outings. Perhaps this explains a lot about the Rangers — aside from a few key injuries, almost everything is going well and very little is going poorly. — Zach Buchanan

Record: 29-17
Last Power Ranking: 4

It’s too early to truly be concerned about Michael Harris II. Right? Right?? RIGHT??? Through 25 games in his rookie season, Harris was batting .330 with a .900 OPS, so seeing him below the Mendoza line is a little jarring. Harris, who missed three weeks in April with a lower back strain, has a .171/.253/.256 triple slash, with just five extra bases and four steals so far in 2023. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year has struggled against righties in general and against fastballs in particular. But it does seem like things should start clicking. With as consistently as Harris barrels baseballs, factor in an abnormally low .213 BABIP and improved walk and strikeout rates this season and I’m betting his surface numbers will come around before long. But, if not, the slow start will soon be sounding alarm bells. — SN

Record: 31-16
Last Power Ranking: 6

It would’ve been cool to see Jorge Mateo continue his meteoric rise this month, but in reality, the Orioles weren’t counting on guys like Mateo in 2023. They were expecting an immediate impact from their top prospects like Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez. Instead, it’s been a rough transition for those two, even as the surging Orioles have accumulated the second-best record in baseball. Henderson is batting .192 with a .685 OPS in everyday playing time, and Rodriguez has a 6.21 ERA through eight starts. There are silver linings, to be sure. Henderson is getting on base at a good clip. Rodriguez now has more solid starts than bad, with a few blowups skewing the ERA. But they’ve also looked a lot like, well, rookies. And if the Orioles are to do better than stay in the playoff conversation, if they’re going to chase down the Rays, it’ll likely be because Henderson and Rodriguez got a firm foothold and found their groove. — SN

Gunnar Henderson (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Record: 29-19
Last Power Ranking: 2

When the Dodgers trade for a guy, the general expectation is that guy is suddenly going to get way better. (See, to a certain extent, Jason Heyward.) Miguel Rojas has been the opposite. Acquired from the Marlins for shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya — who is starting to hit in Triple A, by the way — Rojas was set to fill a Trea Turner-sized hole at shortstop. The 34-year-old has been a good defender, but he’s been terrible at the plate with a .494 OPS. Rojas has never been a league-average hitter in any full season, and certainly no one expected him to hit like Turner, but his offensive numbers are just plain ugly.

Of course, the Dodgers are scoring the most runs in the NL — their big problem is pitching injuries, not pitching underperformance — so maybe getting Rojas to hit would be unfair to everyone else. — ZB

Record: 27-19
Last Power Ranking: 11

Yes, the Astros, with their below-average offensive production, need Alex Bregman’s talent to float back into his body. It’s worth noting, though, that Bregman is coming off a good week and hasn’t been nearly as much of a drain on the lineup as another fixture. The guy who truly got Monstar-ed is first baseman José Abreu, who owns a .534 OPS, worse than even Martín Maldonado’s. I could throw a whole bunch of numbers at you, but this gets the point across.

Jose Altuve is back, which should help the Astros at the plate, but Abreu is still batting in the heart of the lineup. Until manager Dusty Baker drops the struggling veteran – or benches him — the (admittedly surging) Astros will be waiting for him like Godot. And if you’re familiar with the Samuel Beckett play, you know that Godot never arrives. — ZB

Record: 29-20
Last Power Ranking: 9

The answer to this prompt would have been Aaron Hicks had he not been designated for assignment Saturday, but there are a few others getting a lot of run for the red-hot Yankees and not contributing with the bat:

• Oswaldo Cabrera: .203/.258/.312, 3 HR, 10 BB, 28 K, 5 S
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa: .198/.258/.302, 2 HR, 6 BB, 14 K, 4 SB, 2 CS
• Kyle Higashioka: .191/.247/.368, 3 HR, 5 BB, 24 K

These are lower than typical numbers for Kiner-Falefa and Higashioka, but they were known commodities as glove-first guys. After Cabrera broke into the majors with a .740 OPS (109 OPS+) in 44 games last season, there was hope he’d help both ways. But through 42 games this season, that hasn’t been the case. He’s lugging around a .570 OPS and looking at a lot of blue on his Statcast page. Also worth noting: Josh Donaldson hasn’t played enough to say the Yankees are waiting for his bat to show up; right now they’d settle for him showing up healthy at all. — SN

Record: 25-22
Last Power Ranking: 7

Less than two weeks ago, Carlos Correa was hitting just .185 — and hearing boos. “I’d boo myself, too,” Correa said. Since then, he’s hitting better, with an .873 OPS over that stretch to raise his batting average to .206. He’s inching back into form. But here’s the rub: The Twins are treading water, in control of the AL Central but just three games above .500. They’re currently shorthanded. They’re … fine. And fine isn’t good enough. At some point, if they’re serious about this season, the Twins will need to reach another level. They won’t get there by going 2-4 in a week as they did after a trip through Los Angeles and Anaheim last week. They’ll get to another level behind their stars. And Correa is their brightest. “When I get right,” Correa said, “when we get right as a team, then we’re going to be playing better baseball.” He knows what’s up. — Nick Groke

Record: 27-20
Last Power Ranking: 10

Things are mostly going well with the Arizona offense. By bWAR, the Diamondbacks’ top six players are all hitters. Arizona had a couple dead spots in the outfield, but has the prospect depth to flip those guys out for replacements like Dominic Fletcher and Pavin Smith, both of whom are hitting well. Arizona has similar prospect depth in the rotation, but the results there have not been as good.

The bottom three spots in the Arizona rotation are filled by rookies Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt along with pseudo-rookie Tommy Henry. They have a combined 5.81 ERA. Each has shown positive signs, but consistency is what a rotation needs. Arizona is 13-7 when Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly pitch, and 14-13 when anyone else does. The Diamondbacks are comfortable winners right now, but that’s a hard act to keep up when three-fifths of the rotation is so shaky. If those young pitchers don’t find their footing soon, it might be time for the Diamondbacks to reach even deeper into the farm system for, say, Blake Walston or Bryce Jarvis. — ZB

Record: 26-21
Last Power Ranking: 12

The Red Sox’s starting shortstop switching from Xander Bogaerts to Trevor Story to Kiké Hernández represented an obvious downgrade, but the results have been even worse than expected. Hernández’s hitting numbers, from the traditional (.298 OBP, .646 OPS) to the advanced (87.5 mph average exit velocity, 33.3 hard-hit percentage), are among the lowest of his career, and his defense has rated as worse than all but two position players in the majors: Amed Rosario and CJ Abrams. Bogaerts, meanwhile, is tied for first in the majors in Outs Above Average. On the pitching side, Corey Kluber is throwing slower and getting hit harder than ever. His start Sunday ended after seven outs and five runs, one earned. His ERA went down, from 6.41 to 6.26. Kluber’s strikeout rate entering Sunday’s start (18.4 percent) and ground-ball rate (30.7 percent) were both career lows, which helps explain how his home-run rate (2.52 per nine innings) is more than double his previous high. — SN

Record: 25-22
Last Power Ranking: 5

Bad week for the Blue Jays, and in Toronto, no less. They lost three of four to the Yankees, then were swept by the Orioles. The East is already on fire. As we stand, Toronto is a last-place team, but that’s deceiving. Yes, they are 5-12 in their division this season and they need to be better against those teams directly in front of them. But the new balanced schedule takes some of the sting away. The Jays are still a winning team. They just need more. And that more should come from George Springer, Toronto’s best underperforming player. Springer was an All-Star last year, but while he was about 33 percent above league average as a hitter in 2022, he’s now about 15 percent worse than league average. Quite a swing in the wrong direction. Nothing is especially alarming about his season; for example, he’s not striking out more than he normally does. And he’s suffering some bad luck (.252 BABIP). But Springer needs to be more impactful. The Blue Jays could really use an infusion from their right fielder. — NG

Record: 25-21
Last Power Ranking: 8

Big picture, the Brewers are 5-5 over the past 10 games and still on the winning side. But in the past week, they lost an alarming series to the Cardinals and another to the Rays. And despite the Pirates falling back to earth and the Cardinals playing like a Roomba in a sandbox, the Brewers failed to pull ahead in the Central. Milwaukee has fielded a very middle offense, exactly at the median by fWAR and slightly below average by wRC+. With a rookie-inflected lineup, that’s probably how it will stay for a while. What they need is for Corbin Burnes to go on a heater. It’s not fair to expect the Brewers’ ace to carry them. He can only pitch every five days or so. But that’s what aces do. In his last outing, Burnes struck out seven and walked just one over six solid innings. And yet the Brewers lost that game to the Cardinals. Maybe it’s too much to ask, but they need Burnes to be even better. What they have right now is a potential All-Star. What they’re waiting for is the Cy Young winner. — NG

Record: 25-23
Last Power Ranking: 15

There are some notable underperformers on the Angels roster — Aaron Loup, Tyler Anderson, Gio Urshela, Brandon Drury — but we can’t do this team and not talk about third baseman Anthony Rendon. The 32-year-old, who is currently out with a minor groin issue, actually has been one of the better hitters on the roster, carrying a 118 OPS+ entering Monday. But that’s still a shadow of what the Angels are paying him to be. The Angels dropped seven years and $245 million on him after 2019 thinking they’d be getting the guy who’d just finished third in MVP voting with a 157 OPS+. And they did get him … for one season. Rendon posted a .915 OPS in the shortened 2020 campaign, but barely played the next two years. When he did play, he was a shell of himself, batting just .235/.328/.381. His performance this year has been encouraging by comparison — before his injury, Rendon was batting .412 with a 1.041 OPS in May — but the Angels need him to do more than just show up if they’re going to keep pace as a supposedly three-superstar team in the AL West. They also need him to hang around a while. — ZB

Record: 25-23
Last Power Ranking: 18

I can say with a certain degree of confidence that, when healthy, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander will deliver good results for the Mets. I will say no such thing, however, about a handful of veterans currently populating the Mets’ lineup and bench. To oversimplify here, let’s say that if league-average OPS in 2023 is .728 (which it is) then residing in the .600s or below is a real bummer. And that’s where Eduardo Escobar (.685), Luis Guillorme (.591) and three of four outfielders — Starling Marte (.620), Mark Canha (.666), Tommy Pham (.664) — all reside. That’s not even counting those with fewer than 20 games played this season. For Steve Cohen and the Mets, the quickest path to first place is to get those bats back on track. Marte had three hits Sunday to bounce his batting average from a career-low .231 to still-a-career-low .245, and he also homered and hosed a former teammate from right field, so maybe he, like the Mets, is coming around. — SN

Record: 22-24
Last Power Ranking: 16

The Phillies are a strange team to try to explain statistically. They’re both one of the best pitching teams in the league (third-most valuable rotation in the majors by fWAR) and one that has allowed the 10th-most runs. They are the 13th-best offense by wRC+ and one that ranks 20th by runs scored. Watch them for more than one game at a time, and you may guess the Phillies have one of the best records in the NL and yet they’re in fourth place in their own division. Some of this will even out over time. But Philadelphia is already mortgaging their season in an alarming way. Their starting pitchers have thrown among the fewest innings in the majors this season, which in turn has taxed a bullpen that is missing Jose Alvarado. With Ranger Suárez now back in action, the Phillies are waiting for their starters to show up in full. “We need to get it going,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We really do.” — NG

Record: 22-24
Last Power Ranking: 13

“Can man survive on pitching alone?” our Corey Brock asked last week, and that gets to the heart of Seattle’s problem. The Mariners are waiting on nearly an entire offense to show up. Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh are doing well, but so many others are scuffling. Kolten Wong is hitting .177. Teoscar Hernandez strikes out so often that he’s in danger of earning Titanium Strikeout Status, with free punchouts for life. “Seattle’s designated hitters have produced a collective .138 batting average,” Brock wrote last week. Most glaringly, reigning Rookie of the Year winner Julio Rodríguez is batting just .204.

Too long; didn’t read? Consult this handy flow chart. — ZB

Record: 24-22
Last Power Ranking: 17

There are a few hitters the Pirates wish would bring more with the bat — Ji Hwan Bae and Austin Hedges come to mind — but none of them were expected to produce in the way Ke’Bryan Hayes and Carlos Santana were. Santana, asked to clean up in the middle of the lineup, has just two homers and a .696 OPS for the second-place (but struggling) Pirates. Hayes doubled twice and tripled over the weekend to slightly better his slash line: .234/.290/.351 (.641 OPS) with one homer. Hayes, an incredible defender at third base, seems to have the right tools at the plate. He hits the ball hard, and his strikeout rate has improved this season, but he has been stuck for the past three seasons as a squarely below-average bat with mediocre OBPs and little pop. Hayes still has his believers that he’ll break out as a hitter, but so far this season they’re still waiting to be proven right. — SN

Record: 21-27
Last Power Ranking: 25

If not for the Astros’ torrid run recently, we’d be framing the Cardinals as the hottest team in baseball, winners of eight of their past 10 games. Nolan Arenado is hitting .439 with a 1.357 OPS over his past 10 games, with six home runs and 15 RBIs. It’s a ridiculous run of hitting that helped the Cardinals sweep the Red Sox, win two of three against the Brewers and three of four against the Dodgers. They are back on track, even if they have a ways to go before breaking even. The offense showed up, but St. Louis is still waiting for its pitching to get hot. Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz still remain below league average by park-adjusted ERA. Only Jordan Montgomery has an ERA below 4.50. And collectively, the rotation ranks about 24th in the league. Somehow, all that panic about Willson Contreras didn’t ruin the Cardinals. But that doesn’t mean everything is tip-top with the team and their starting pitching. — NG

Record: 22-24
Last Power Ranking: 21

The Giants are a weird team of extremes, as Grant Brisbee explains. They are not rebuilding and they are not a juggernaut. But, judging by how they conducted their offseason, they do expect to win — which they have been doing more of lately. After leaving Carlos Correa at the altar, other teams might have said, “You know what, I need to take some time for myself,” but San Francisco got right back out on the market and made notable additions to its roster in the hopes of building out a winner.

But many of those additions have not produced. We’ll give Michael Conforto a bit of a pass, as he’s been roughly a league-average bat and missed all of last season. But Mitch Haniger is sitting on an OPS+ of 52. Sean Manaea, signed for two years and $25 million, can’t stick in the rotation and has the eighth-highest ERA of any pitcher who has thrown at least 20 innings this season. The Giants aren’t bad — and for once are producing homegrown talents like Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey — but if you’re going to build your team through free agency, you have to get those signings right. — ZB

Record: 21-26
Last Power Ranking: 14

What are we waiting for to show up in San Diego? How about the super-squad Padres team this offseason promised us? Like the free-spending Mets on the opposite coast, the Padres have a star-studded team playing several degrees below its own talent. This piece by Dennis Lin last week gets across the magnitude of the problem:

• The franchise is on its fifth full-time manager since general manager A.J. Preller took over in 2014. It doesn’t seem to make a difference!
• The Padres have already played 23 games in which they scored three or fewer runs. They have lost 21 of them.
• They went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position in one game against the Royals to improve their season average in those situations.

Not hitting: Austin Nola, Trent Grisham, Nelson Cruz.

Not pitching well: Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove.

The boobirds have been out. “I would boo ourselves, too,” said Fernando Tatis Jr. — ZB

Record: 24-23
Last Power Ranking: 23

We’ll start with Jean Segura. Because for as hard as the Fish have worked to keep their heads above .500, they’ve had little help from Segura, who this past offseason signed a two-year, $17 million deal. He’s batting .204 with a .509 OPS — more than 200 points lower than any of his past seven seasons. He is swinging at everything and barreling almost nothing. Meanwhile, the Marlins’ catching situation is a mess. They have the worst OPS from the position in the majors this season, at .459. Jacob Stallings is batting .118 with a .340 OPS, and Nick Fortes has hit .211 with a .538 OPS. Add into the mix that shortstop Joey Wendle and outfielder Peyton Burdick are also both batting below .200 in small samples, and the Marlins have some significant holes in their lineup. — SN

Record: 20-26
Last Power Ranking: T-19

Rewind a week. The Cubs were coming off a rough stretch with series losses to the Cardinals and Twins. They were getting good contributions from several players, notably Dansby Swanson. And, at least statistically, their lineup is among the top 5 in the majors. The one hole in the order, at the time, was Seiya Suzuki. In his second year after moving from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to the North Side, the Cubs were still waiting for him to break out. Then, in the past week, Suzuki raised his batting average by more than 30 points and his OPS by more than 100 points. And now, Suzuki, too, is hitting well above league average. “He’s in a good place,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “When he’s like that, you’re going to see our offense put up a lot of good numbers. He’s key in the middle of that order.” Unfortunately, the Cubs went 1-5 this past week, swept by the Astros and bested by the Phillies. Maybe they were waiting for somebody other than Suzuki to fix everything. — NG

Record: 20-26
Last Power Ranking: T-19

The Guardians are clearly not a bad baseball team. Ok, maybe it’s not immediately apparent, but it’s true. The league this year is made up of maybe five good teams, two demonstrably horrid teams and a flat circle of mediocrity in between. The Guardians are in that middle group. The fact that they’ve trended toward the bottom of the mid-range is immaterial. Sure, they are five games under .500 with a run differential now 34 runs below even. They’re also in a winnable division and it’s hard to imagine even Alan Trammell would claim the Tigers are better than the Guardians. So something is missing. In the past calendar week, the Guards went 1-5 and that series loss to the White Sox is borderline shameful, but they were swept out of New York by a total of just three Mets runs. This season, they’ve won as many as four games in a row and lost as many as three straight. They’ve scored as many as 12 runs and allowed as many as 11. When they find some consistency — if they can find some consistency — Cleveland will get right. — NG

Record: 20-24
Last Power Ranking: 22

Well, you might say the Tigers are still waiting on most of their lineup to figure things out. But these are the second-place Tigers we’re talking about, so show some respect. Let’s focus our attention on the bats. The only Tigers hitters who rate as above-average this season by OPS+ or wRC+ are Zach McKinstry, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, who is currently injured. That’s not super-duper promising. But, again, I refer you to the standings. No one is counting on Miguel Cabrera to turn around his .459 OPS, but how about Jonathan Schoop (.565), Nick Maton (.616), Matt Vierling (.639), Javier Báez (.608) or Spencer Torkelson (.661)? Torkelson, Vierling and Maton all have shown encouraging signs at bat in this past week, and any (or all) of them starting to click regularly could be what keep these Tigers — No. 2 in the division, No. 1 in your hearts — interesting this summer. — SN

Record: 19-29
Last Power Ranking: 27

Nice week for the White Sox, after winning two of three against the Guardians and sweeping the lowly Royals. It was the kind of week that should be expected. Losing five of six to those two teams would have said more about their problems than winning all but one says about their merits. At a granular level, the Sox are trying to fix some pitching mechanics to get right, with Lance Lynn and Dylan Cease tweaking their motions for better results. This team, though, is beyond the tweaks. They are the third-worst team in the league! They’re looking down at the Royals and A’s, two historically bad teams. Maybe the Sox aren’t a good team, as constructed, but they shouldn’t be this bad. We are not here to lobby for cleaning house with the roster or even the front office. It just seems like the Sox are waiting for a big idea — any idea — for getting right, either this season or into the future. They are beyond the need for tweaks. — NG

Record: 19-27
Last Power Ranking: 24

I saw a recent article on a competitor’s site highlighting players receiving trade buzz, and one of the names listed was Reds outfielder Wil Myers. This prompted me to look up Myers’ numbers and … what? Teams want to trade for this guy? Why, do they owe Cincinnati a favor?

The Reds signed Myers to a one-year deal hoping they could flip him at the deadline like they did with Brandon Drury last year, but it’s not working. Myers is hitting .198/.258/.298. He hasn’t had a multi-hit game in nearly a month. For a guy wearing red, his Baseball Savant page is really, really blue. Myers has generally been a good hitter, but there’s a chance the 32-year-old has hit the downslope. His in-zone contact is a career-worst, as is his maximum exit velocity. He is striking out so damn much.

It’s not going to kill the Reds if he doesn’t turn it around, but it sure wouldn’t hurt! (And anyway, the guy we’re all really hoping will show up is Elly De La Cruz.) — ZB

Record: 20-27
Last Power Ranking: 28

I’ve sung Keibert Ruiz’s praises around here as a breakout candidate and as an early-season positive for the Nationals, as he batted .281 with a .351 OBP in April. But the production has cratered in May, with Ruiz batting .167 with a .227 OBP, which actually improved significantly over the weekend with a single, double and homer against the Tigers. With his profile as a switch-hitting catcher with excellent bat-to-ball skills, Ruiz makes a ton of contact, but not a lot of hard contact — especially when he’s chasing. And that weaker contact is why his below-average BABIPs (.233 this year, .263 in the majors) don’t look so much like bad luck as they do his norm. Ruiz is mostly a singles hitter at this stage, and he rarely walks, so a prolonged slump like the one this month is capable of completely halting his offensive production. Ruiz isn’t the only Nationals player with middling offensive numbers so far this season, but he’s a central piece of the franchise’s future and it’s crucial for him to continue making progress. — SN

Record: 19-28
Last Power Ranking: 26

The Rockies were so pleased with their core over the past few seasons, they doled out contract extensions to Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan McMahon, Daniel Bard, Elias Diaz and C.J. Cron. And they signed Kris Bryant to a seven-year deal. Bit of an odd strategy considering they were no better than a 74-win team over the past four years and are currently a last-place squad. There’s just not a lot of room to work over the roster in free agency. They’re waiting for an infusion of rookies — namely, outfielder Zac Veen, the club’s top prospect. But here’s the tough part, and the Rockies aren’t alone in this way of dealing with prospects: If Veen makes his way to the majors later this summer, he’ll be joining a losing team, a team that needs him more than he needs them. That’s not an ideal situation for a young player. All of a sudden, you’re asking him to save the team. That’s an unreasonable demand. Ideally, Veen would get the space to find his way and figure out how to survive in the major leagues. That alone is incredibly difficult. But to be responsible for the future of the team, too? Not a fair request. — NG

Record: 14-34
Last Power Ranking: 29

When he’s out there collecting four hits in a game like he did Saturday — more like three and a half with that nubber to the pitcher, but he also smacked a well-hit double — Nick Loftin will start turning that gentle knock on the big-league door into a hard bang. If the Royals are content to wait for their No. 2 prospect, fans might not be. Loftin sits just outside the list of MLB’s Top 100 prospects, or just inside, depending on the wind. And he is probably the nearest, best minor-leaguer yet to join the Royals. As a do-it-all hitter, five-tool player and utility fielder, Loftin should have little trouble finding a spot on this Royals team. The key question is how to maximize his future. It’d be dumb to rush him into the bigs just for him to learn how to lose games. But keeping him in Triple-A Omaha in perpetuity is just as bad. Everybody, it seems, is waiting for Loftin to arrive. — NG

Record: 10-38
Last Power Ranking: 30

We could spend a lot of time clowning on the abject futility of the A’s — Jayson Stark has that in great detail if you desire it — but that feels like it’s missing the point we’re making here. If this week’s theme is about waiting for the real Slim Shady to stand up, these A’s aren’t helpful. Barely anyone on this roster has a track record!

So, we’ll take aim at the C-suite, where we’re waiting on competent executives to arrive. A brief rundown of recent events: The A’s announced a “binding” land deal in Las Vegas and abandoned it almost immediately. They then announced a new deal that would involve nearly $400 million in public funds, only for public officials to be like, “Uh, I don’t think we’re spending that much.” Owner John Fisher and president David Kaval built a bad roster on purpose. But this Vegas stuff is something they’re actually trying to get right. — ZB

(Top photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)

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Rain swept through San Diego early Thursday morning, threatening the most anticipated opening day in Padres history.

With more midday rain downtown in the forecast, the ball club proactively moved first place 5 1/2 hours — from 1:10 p.m. to 6:40 p.m. — to allow the rain clouds to clear and allow the water-soaked field to drain and dry.

If the game against the Colorado Rockies goes ahead as planned, the Padres’ 1975 home game will remain the only rain-soaked game in the franchise’s 55-year history.

In fact, the opening game of 1975 rained consecutive nights at San Diego Stadium.

It was mostly bad luck.

Rainfall was reported for six consecutive days from April 4 to 9, although records show rainfall was just two inches in April this year.

Almost half of the precipitation (0.93 inches) fell on the opening day and a significant amount (0.41 inches) the following day.

The San Diego Union reported that the pre-game celebrations were to include a softball game an hour before field one, pitting Eddie Feigner (The King) and his court against some “media celebrities.”

Padres owner Ray Kroc was scheduled to give a presentation, having saved baseball for the city a year earlier when he bought a franchise just before moving to Washington, DC

Mayor Pete Wilson should throw the first pitch.

Fireworks were to follow after the game.

After two rainstorms, the Padres decided to postpone the celebrations to the team’s home game against the Dodgers two weeks later.

The delays shattered the crowd.

The Padres originally expected up to 42,000 fans, and some at the ticket office thought a sell-out (47,634) was a possibility. The franchise’s single-game attendance record at the time was 44,504, set on May 25 last season against Cincinnati.

When the teams finally took the field two nights later, only 19,823 people walked through the turnstiles.

Those who showed up watched as Padre’s left-hander Randy Jones threw nine shutout innings.

They also saw San Francisco right-hander Jim Barr throw 10 shutout innings in the Giants’ 2-0 win.

Despite an extra inning, the game was over in 2 hours and 11 minutes.

With so few rain replays, members of the Padres Ground Crew — especially when the team was playing Mission Valley — have been known to struggle to cover the field.

In fact, the tarp pretty much came apart in their hands at one point when the crew tried to drag it across the field after years of rolling it up along the first base line in foul territory.

That wasn’t the most memorable incident, however.

In 1990, at what was then Jack Murphy Stadium, a family of skunks dispersed after ground crew interrupted them while unrolling the tarp, which seemed like a nice, dry place to settle.

The skunks were released along the San Diego River, although they always seemed to find their way back to the stadium.

No wonder they made themselves comfortable. The probability that the tarpaulin was touched was extremely small.

The Padres media guide lists 18 rains in franchise history, with up to 15 years between rains (1983 to 1998).

Only three regular season games have been rescheduled in the team’s 19-year history at Petco Park, the most recent being on May 7, 2017 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Two years earlier, an unprecedented summer storm forced the postponement of the July 19, 2015 game against the Rockies. This ended a nine-year stretch (770 games) without a rainout.

Before that, the Padres had just two rainouts from 1983 to 2006, covering a span of 1,802 games.

If it weren’t for Buzzie Bavasi, the Padres’ first president, the number of rains would be barely a dozen.

Bavasi believed doubleheaders drew more viewers, so he would announce a game in no time.

Six of the team’s rainouts came in the first four years of the franchise’s existence.

San Diego rains

According to the Padres media guide, there have been 18 rains in San Diego over the years:

April 27, 1970 – vs. Montreal Expos

April 14, 1971 – vs. Chicago Cubs

May 7, 1971 – vs. Cincinnati Reds

May 28, 1971 – vs. New York Mets

June 5, 1972 – vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

June 6, 1972 – against Pittsburgh Pirates

April 8, 1975 – vs. San Francisco Giants

April 9, 1975 – vs. San Francisco Giants

September 10, 1976 – vs. Houston Astros (DH)

May 8, 1977 – vs. Montreal Expos (DH)

April 15, 1978 – vs. San Francisco Giants

April 28, 1980 – vs. Atlanta Braves

April 29, 1980 – vs. Atlanta Braves

April 20, 1983 – vs. Atlanta Braves

May 12, 1998 – vs. New York Mets

April 4, 2006 – vs. San Francisco Giants

July 19, 2015 – vs. Colorado Rockies

May 7, 2017 – vs Los Angeles Dodgers

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Darin Ruf and the San Francisco Giants square off against Jake Cronenworth and the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on Saturday at 7:15 PM ET.

The Padres pitching staff is sixth in MLB with a collective 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings. The Giants’ 95 home runs rank 12th in Major League Baseball.

Here is what you need to get ready for Saturday’s Padres vs. Giants contest.

Padres vs Giants: Live Streaming Info & Game Time

• Game Day: Saturday, July 9, 2022
• Game Time: 7:15 PM ET
• Location: San Diego, California
• Stage: PETCO Park
• TV channels: FOX
• live streaming: fuboTV (Watch for free)

San Diego vs San Francisco Odds & Betting Lines

• Favorite: Padres (-109, bet $109 to win $100)
• Underdog: Giants (-109, bet $109 to win $100)
• Over/under: 7

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The San Diego Padres and Jurickson Profar will square off against the San Francisco Giants and Darin Ruf on Friday at 9:40 PM ET, in the second game of a four-game series at PETCO Park.

The Padres have the 16th-ranked batting average in the league (.240). The Giants’ 93 home runs rank 12th in Major League Baseball.

Before watching this Padres vs. Giants matchup, here is everything you need to know about Friday’s action on the diamond.

Padres vs Giants: Live Streaming Info & Game Time

• Game Day: Friday, July 8, 2022
• Game Time: 9:40 PM ET
• Location: San Diego, California
• Stage: PETCO Park
• TV channels: NBC Sports Networks
• live streaming: fuboTV (Watch for free)

San Diego vs San Francisco Odds & Betting Lines

• Favorite: Padres (-139, bet $139 to win $100)
• Underdog: Giants (+121, bet $100 to win $121)
• Over/under: 7.5

Want some action on the latest MLB games? Place your legal sports bets on this game or others in CO and NJ at Tipico Sportsbook. New customer offer: Deposit $10, GET $200 in betting credits immediately. 21+, Terms and Conditions apply. Bet now!

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