MLB Betting: Giants vs Padres Series Preview, Key Series for Struggling Teams
NL West Rivals Have to Shake off Summer Blues
The San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres meet this weekend with both teams desperately needing to right the ship amid brutal slumps. So, this Giants vs Padres series preview is covering a pair of teams that have to turn things around soon if they want to have a chance in the division.
The Giants just snapped a six-game losing skid while the Padres have dropped eight of their last 10, scoring two runs or fewer in five of their last six. Their respective slides have allowed the hated Los Angeles Dodgers to build a commanding lead in the NL West.
For the Giants, the magic from the 2021 season has been lacking in all aspects of the game. San Francisco’s fielding has gone from elite to bad while various offensive injuries… along with the retirement of Buster Posey – have played a big role in the Giants’ decline. Meanwhile, for the Padres, it’s admirable that San Diego has played this well without Fernando TatÃs Jr. but the lack of offensive depth around Manny Machado is starting to show. Each team’s MLB season standing has taken a beating over the past few weeks.
Giants-Padres Game 1 Information
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- Game: San Francisco Giants (41-39) at San Diego Padres (47-36)
- Location: Petco Park
- Day/Time:
Padres Have Starting Pitching Edge
With this series being a four-game set, both teams will be able to use the vast majority of their starting rotations. San Francisco will have de facto ace Logan Webb go in Thursday’s Game 1 and he’ll be followed up by Sam Long, Carlos Rodón, and Alex Wood. San Diego turns to ace Joe Musgrove, who is having a Cy Young caliber season… then Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and top prospect Mackenzie Gore on the mound.
At least in terms of matchups, the Padres have a definite advantage. Musgrove and Darvish have been awesome and while Snell has struggled a bit, Gore has shown a ton of promise. Webb and Rodón are the two biggest reasons why San Francisco’s season hasn’t completely fallen apart. Long is used as a multi-inning opener for a bullpen game, and Wood has been very shaky.
So, while the Padres’ offense continues to struggle, the starting pitching has been fairly reliable. With the Giants also having their own issues at the plate… i.e, four runs or fewer in six of their last seven games… San Diego should be able to keep San Francisco in check. Our Giants vs Padres series preview expects there to be a bunch of low-scoring games.
San Francisco Missing Key Bats
The Giants haven’t played all that well this season when they have been at full strength but, since they haven’t been completely healthy for much of the year, it’s somewhat understandable why they’re just two games over .500. Right now, starting catcher Curt Casali, outfielder Luis González, middle infielder Thairo Estrada, and third baseman Evan Longoria are all on the shelf.
So, San Francisco (as has been the case all year) will be significantly shorthanded at the plate against a scuffling San Diego team that has one of baseball’s best rotations. The Padres are far from 100% themselves, particularly in the bullpen and without TatÃs, but the Giants’ injuries are more numerous. Plus, San Francisco just recently got player Brandon Crawford back from his own injury and he is working himself back into shape. The Giants’ MLB standing can’t afford to take much more of a hit.
Padres Are Due
The concept of “being due” is always a tricky one in baseball because the MLB season is brutally long and there are so many ups and downs, even for the best of teams. It’s a difficult task to predict when hot streaks will start and end, and if a team-wide slump will last for two days or two weeks. In the case of the Padres, it’s a good bet to expect them to get over their offensive woes this weekend against the Giants.
This Giants vs Padres series preview has focused on San Diego’s pitching advantages but on paper, the Padres have a lineup advantage as well. Manny Machado is playing at an MVP level while most of the rest of San Diego’s regulars are above-average bats who just haven’t hit much lately.
Granted, the bottom of the order (Austin Nola, C.J. Abrams, and Trent Grisham all struggling) has been bad, but the Padres are too good to go through such a prolonged offensive outage. Look for Machado to break out of a 3-for-20 stretch and lead San Diego to some serious run production in this series.
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