Dodgers’ 2019 NL West Outlook: San Diego Padres

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 05: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his two run homerun behind Anibal Sanchez #19 of the Atlanta Braves to take a 2-0 lead during the first inning in Game Two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 05: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his two run homerun behind Anibal Sanchez #19 of the Atlanta Braves to take a 2-0 lead during the first inning in Game Two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 05: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his two run homerun behind Anibal Sanchez #19 of the Atlanta Braves to take a 2-0 lead during the first inning in Game Two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

In the final installment of “Dodgers: 2019 NL West Outlooks” I’ll look into the San Diego Padres. The Padres are poised to join the elite teams in the National League in a season or two.

2019 shouldn’t be their year, but it should at least be a season of growth for their young core. Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Urias, and Francisco Mejia all should play significant roles for the Padres this season

In the first three installments of this series, I talked about the three top teams in the NL West after the Dodgers last season, the Dbacks, Rockies, and Giants. The Padres were connected to some of the players the Dodgers have been rumored to be going after, notably J.T. Realmuto and Corey Kluber, but the team ended up with one of the biggest prizes on the free agent market in Manny Machado.

In this series, I went through each team in the NL West and recapping their 2018 (overall and against the Dodgers), analyzing their off-season thus far, and “Dodger Killers” on their rosters.