Baltimore will travel to San Diego on Monday to play a short 2-game series at Petco Park. The Orioles are a baseball team that has not been good in 2019. They have lost twice as many games as they have won. Baltimore has been bad at baseball this year, giving teams chances to jump in their own division standings every single series. San Diego absolutely needs to win some baseball games in order to even think about the playoffs again, and a sweep would obviously be a splendid way to start.

San Diego has played in 5 separate series since the All Star break, losing every single series. Padres fans had lots of reasons to feel confident going into the All Star break. Coming off a road series win in LA, the Padres were sitting at a 7% chance of making the playoffs according to Baseball-Reference. Due to the massive and very recent cold streak, these chances have gone out the window. In just five short series, the Padres have turned into a major longshot for the 2019 postseason.

Monday, July 29th, 7:10 PM
TBD vs RHP Chris Paddack (6-5, 2.84)

Chris Paddack has performed in an amazing fashion in 2019 considering his age. The young 23 year old has already rolled up a 2.1 WAR, which means that if he were to just sit out until next year, he would still be above average as a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues. The Padres have around 60 games left on their schedule, and if Paddack can manage 8-9 more starts at the level he has been playing, he has a chance to actually catch up to the amazing Hawaiian-born rookie Mike Soroka in Atlanta for best season by a rookie starting pitcher in 2019. His Monday start will be the highlight of the series for Padres fans, getting to see Paddack pitch at home for the first time since June. Paddack, along with the friar faithful everywhere, will be hoping to start a Monday night game with a chance for a win against the struggling 2019 Orioles.

Tuesday, July 30th, 12:40 PM
TBD vs RHP Dinelson Lamet (0-2, 5.00)

Dinelson Lamet’s efforts were enough to grant the Padres a much needed win in New York last week, although he struggled to get past the fourth inning again, preventing him from earning a decision. It makes sense that as he is coming off Tommy John surgery from last April that his pitches would be closely monitored, but Lamet still would like to go deeper into games. Baltimore is perhaps the team with the least amount of talent in the major leagues, so Lamet will certainly be trying to take advantage of that during his start on Tuesday.

Players to Watch

The player to watch for the Orioles is Jonathon Villar. Since he has been one of the most consistent talents on his team throughout the season, he has been the player most prone to hot streaks. These last seven games have been a good example of that. Jonathon is hitting .281 with 3 home runs and four stolen bases in the last week. He has had a combination of power and speed that is absolutely riveting against opposing pitching. He will be a player to watch as he has the ability to both hit the ball over the fence, and steal a bag.

The player to watch for the Padres is Fernando Tatis Jr. While he struggled in the Miami series a couple of weeks back, he has bloomed in the last week hitting .387 with two tanks. His home run numbers have impressed many considering his tremendous speed on the bases. When tuning into the game on Monday, make sure to see if he sends one in the air that night. The stars will be bright. Fernando.