San Diego Padres Over/Under Win Total for 2018

The San Diego Padres are predicted to win 69.5 games in the 2018 season by oddsmakers.

For a team that won 71 games in 2017, and picked up Eric Hosmer, 69.5 wins seems low. I am definitely going with the over here.

I understand this is arguably the best division in baseball, and the Padres may be still in “rebuilding” mode, but the injuries in the NL West will help them early in the season. In San Francisco, their ace, Madison Bumgarner, is out until June with a left hand injury that he suffered during his final spring training start as Whit Merrifield hit a line drive back at him. Out in Los Angeles, Justin Turner fractured his wrist when he was hit by pitch in spring training.

The Padres also do have injuries. Dinelson Lamet is on the shelf with an elbow injury, but is expected to miss “minimal time” and Alex Dickerson was also injured early in spring.

The rotation will be better this year with Clayton Richard leading the way, and Luis Perdomo & Bryan Mitchell following him. Then there is Tyson Ross. His story will be worth noting for Padre’ fans as he looks to return from injury. Rookie Joey Lucchesi looked decent in his first ML start and could be a force this year as well.

Brad Hand is one of the best relievers in the game, as he was San Diego’s all-star in 2017, with a 2.16 ERA. He will overcome Friday’s hiccup. One of the interesting stories going into the season is the new bullpen arms. Two of those arms are Adam Cimber and Kazuhisa Makita. These two guys are known for the unique arm angle that they pitch with. Cimber throws pretty much like a regular side arm pitcher, but Makita throws an ephus pitch virtually every time he throws. His fastball tops out in the 80s and he throws a slow curve as low as 55 mph.

The Friars’ lineup is stacked at the top with Manuel Margot, Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer leading the way. Eric Hosmer was the talk of San Diego when he finally signed on the dotted line. Many critics indicated the Padres spent too much on someone who was not considered the best player from an analytical standpoint. He is a great leader and he is still an all-star caliber player. Eric is currently in his prime and as I wrote in one of my previous articles, Hosmer saw this as an opportunity that was similar to the one in Kansas City. He believes that the Padres will be in the postseason while he is still in his current contract.

The key to the 2018 San Diego Padres’ season is the man who I haven’t really talked about yet. He changed positions for the better of the team and is manning right field now. Wil Myers is important to this team. Yes, I know he struggled last year only hitting .243, but he did hit 30 bombs and drove in 74 runs for a team that struggled with offense. When Wil Myers signed a contract at Petco Park in mid-January of 2017, Padre’ fans believed Wil would be the leader in the clubhouse. However, we found out that is just not who he is.

Now, Myers can relax, go out to right field, and get better pitches to hit batting in front of Eric Hosmer. He also received new contacts to improve his eyesight, and went to a sports psychologist this offseason focusing on getting out of slumps, which he wasn’t really able to do in the past.

“It can be tough at times. Everyone in this game doubts themselves at one point or another in the season. At times when I get in that, I struggle to get out of it. I took a step toward getting better at that. … It’s more about what I did this offseason as opposed to what has happened with us. I’m in a better mental state. I don’t think I was able to get out of slumps before. I struggled with that. That’s what I worked on most this offseason.”

The 2018 San Diego Padres are definitely an over if you are predicting their win total. A total of 69.5 wins just seems to low.

What do you say?

Ben Fadden

I am a die-hard Padres fan and season ticket holder. I am obsessed with baseball and have been a Padre fan my whole life. I want to become a baseball writer when I grow up. Go Padres!