San Diego Padres star third baseman Manny Machado talked about the playoffs, and how he will approach them.
In the National League Wild Card round, the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets are scheduled to play each other in a three-game series. The Los Angeles Dodgers are waiting for the winner of this series to face them in the next round of the playoffs.
On Friday, October 7, the Padres and the Mets will play the first game of their series against each other. Both teams will be looking to take the early lead in the series going into that game. Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer have been named as the starting pitchers for their respective teams’ Game 1 matchups, and the announcements have been made.
Manny Machado has been absolutely sensational for the Padres this season, and pressure will be on him to help his team get through the Mets in the Wildcard round. Machado himself is excited about the playoffs, and showed confidence ahead of the game.
Talking about the postseason, Manny Machado said, “The game doesn’t change…ultimately, it’s about just paying attention to details. That’s the biggest factor of it. Little things are going to show the most, and you’ve got to be able to make those little things count.”
Talking about how united the Padres team is, Manny Machado said, “We’ve all connected as a whole…we’ve all dealt with some adversity…we thrive as a team, and the guys that are in there…we’re all pulling for each other. Ultimately, that’s all that really matters.”
The San Diego Padres brought in Bob Melvin in the offseason to become their manager, and he has done a phenomenal job in taking the team to the playoffs. With Fernando Tatis Jr. not playing a single game for the team throughout the season, the Padres have done really well to make it to the playoffs in a tough NL.
Talking about the great work that Bob Melvin has done in his first season with the Padres, Machado said, “It’s huge. He’s under control the whole time…even when we’re down, we still have peace of mind that we can go out there and compete because he gives us that confidence every single day.”
Everyone knows that the Padres have a pretty good offense, and they can put runs on board even without Fernando Tatis Jr. The pitching from the Padres will be critical for their success in the playoffs, and coming against an explosive Mets team, they will be put to test.
Bob Melvin talked about the pitchers of the team ahead of Game 1 against the Mets, and said, “Our bullpen’s been pitching pretty well here coming down the stretch. We’ve finally gotten to a point where we feel good about who goes where and when, especially with Josh (Hader) at the back now.”
The Padres have already confirmed which pitchers will be starting the games against the New York Mets, and here’s the info regarding that:
Hopefully, the San Diego Padres will be able to get the job done against a very talented Mets team, as the Padres would love to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the next round. The whole playoffs will be a great learning curve for the current Padres team who are bound to be significantly better next season with Tatis Jr. back, and Juan Soto getting familiarized around his new team.
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