San Diego Padres starting to give off ugly 2021 vibes again

As the All-Star break creeps ever closer, there is something that is starting to feel very familiar for San Diego Padres fans … and not in a good way.

For the slumping San Diego Padres, some days off could be coming at the best time as the team hopes to not repeat 2021’s collapse

Sorry San Diego Padres fans, but let’s flash back to the 2021 season when the Padres had a 67-49 record on August 10, but then went 12-34 the rest of the way to finish with a losing record and manager Jayce Tingler losing his job. This season, with Bob Melvin now at the helm and plenty of reasons why another collapse couldn’t possibly happen in 2022, the Padres are limping into the Midsummer Classic.

Since June 25, the Padres have logged the second-lowest winning percentage of any MLB team, playing 5-13 (.278) during that time. There is only one team with a worse record during that same stretch, and that’s the Washington Nationals (4-13, .235).

Blame it on injuries. Say the team will get better in the second half as president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller is once again expected to be very active at the MLB trade deadline. Think whatever happy thoughts you will, but the last three weeks or so have exposed the cracks in the current construction of the Padres. That .260 winning percentage that San Diego finished the 2021 season with is just slightly worse than the recent pace the Padres have been on. That will make even the most positive San Diego fans pause for a moment.

Now Melvin, Preller, and the rest of the San Diego leadership must see how they can regroup and stay within striking distance of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.

Certainly the sky is not completely falling in southern California. Thanks to what San Diego did earlier in the season, the Padres (at 50-41) still own the second Wild Card spot and are 2.5 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in that race. It’s one of several positives the Padres can point to, as well as the likely return of Jurickson Profar before the All-Star break and Manny Machado playing every bit like an All-Star and early-season MVP candidate, as reasons why this rough skid won’t be a freefall.

There are plenty of places the Padres can and likely will improve in the post-All-Star break part of the schedule. San Diego is counting on those improvements pulling them out of what has been an ugly stretch of baseball that feels like déjà vu all over again.