I Ain’t Quitting the Padres

We have all been looking forward to exacting revenge from our abusive cousins in LA.

The Padres started fast in 2025. Up until August last season, the team was in first palace in the NL West division. Fans were optimistic in ‘25 as the bats were making contact and the pitchers looked fresh and motivated. Injuries to Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Brian Hoeing and Jason Heyward forced management to make adjustments to the roster early in 2025. Then Fernando Tatis pulled a hamstring. In the end, the superstar loaded Dodger lineup went all the way to a World Championship.

This year, in Spring Training, Dodger teams went 20-9. The Padres broke even at 15-15. Since Opening Day, the Padres are looking weak and confused. So far, we are averaging 3 runs per game. I don’t see the look in Manny and Tati’s eyes that say “I got this!”

There is something odd about the team chemistry. During after-game interviews, though everyone is touting team spirit, talent and enthusiasm, it just doesn’t feel genuine. I don’t doubt the players are all on the same page, committed to putting it all on the line, but sometimes you can tell there is something missing. An intangible emotional umbilical cord that feeds subliminal motivation, is absent.

In 2024 the season was dedicated to the memory of owner Peter Siedler. His dedication to bringing the best talent together in San Diego to finally put the Padres into a position to challenge the hated Dodgers, was an effective motivational tool. And the players fed off of it.

In 2025 the impetus of adding first tier pitching with Dylan Cease and Tanner Scott, the energy of young Jackson Merrill starting his career like a house-on-fire and adding 3-time batting champion Luis Arraez, slugger Ramon Laureano and flamethrower Mason Miller, stoked the fire in the community’s belly. It took until the last weeks of the season for that energy to flame out.

Last year was one of the most exciting seasons in a decade, and we have all been looking forward to 2025 to exacting revenge from our abusive cousins in LA.

I was seriously shocked when Mike Shildt resigned last fall. I will never agree entirely with every decision managers make, but ‘Shildty’ made more good decisions than bad. He had the respect of his players, and managed a team rife with unfortunate injuries, extremely well. His resignation story, that he was physically and psychologically overwhelmed, didn’t sit right with me. So I was certain there was more to it, something in the background that was inconsistent with the ‘health issue’ cover story.

There were reports that Shildt was verbally and emotionally abrasive to several of his coaches. I have some thoughts on that. Why only coaches? Abusive and combative personalities don’t usually confine their outbursts to only a select audience. Did players complain? I don’t think that was ever suggested.

He had a track record managing the St. Louis Cardinals. They let him go when his contract was up. If he was unstable in the clubhouse there, why didn’t Padre management know about it? Was it because laws prohibit past employers from revealing damaging information to future employers? Maddenly, that is most likely true. Since the Padres gave Shildt a 4-year contract in 2023, they couldn’t have known he was toxic in the workplace. That seems criminal when multi-million dollar contracts are involved. Or maybe, it simply wasn’t true…

I don’t think Shildt voluntarily resigned. If I am right, and there was pressure from management (most likely AJ Preller) and Shildt was shown the door, then I think it might help explain why the team seems so unfocused in 2026.

Players are sensitive to expectation pressures. When the front office is unsatisfied with a manager who takes it into the playoffs in both of his campaigns, what are the players supposed to think? Is management expecting perfection? If he is not good enough, what about me?

There is another possible scenario: If he was simply holding his coaching staff to high standards, and spoke forcefully to get their attention, he may, under current cultural standards, qualify as a workplace “abuser”. It wouldn’t surprise me if the combination of front office expectations, emotionally sensitive coaches who have been brought along in our 21st century progressive environment of avoiding responsibility and victimhood attitudes, it all added up to a no-win outlook that Shildt and Preller mutually agreed was untenable.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

But the fact remains, the Padres Organization has a history of instability. Since it’s founding in 1969, the San Diego MLB franchise has suffered economic downturns, underfunded ownership, and drug use accusations, In too many cases, when the terms of contracts offered were reasonably close, some very talented people decided the sensational fans, phenomenal stadium and unbeatable weather, wasn’t enough to entice them to make their home in San Diego.

So what is the problem with the Padres?

Is it the 5 decade long losing record? The unstable ownership? The revolving door of players, coaches and managers? The laid-back atmosphere of life at the beach?

Is it always all about money?

When I analyse guys like Shohei Ohtani and see that he has already made more money than anyone could possibly spend in two lifetimes, and I watch how motivated he is, it is clear to me that the force required to play at your highest ability is definitely not just loads of money.

Personally, I made the decision in 1977 to move to San Diego to start a new life. I was leaving 27 years in LA, most of that time living at or near the beach. I had a 12 year career in the Ski Industry and many longtime relationships I would have to walk away from. But I felt compelled to escape the toxic atmosphere in LA. I wanted to live in the neighborhood of America’s Finest City. I wanted 69 degree weather almost everyday. I wanted less traffic, less pretense, and a closer sense of community.

I knew it would mean some sacrifices for me. But I was looking into my future and it was obvious it wasn’t going to be in the massive metropolitan matrix of LA.

Maybe some super rich athletes are aware that by the time they are 40, they can choose to locate wherever they want. They are banking on settling down with family, and potentially many friends and former player buddies, somewhere in California (probably not, because of tax issues) or Florida. Or, who knows…

So Padre fans can only hope that while some players are here, for whatever period it may be, that they can use the Petco Park Vibe to unite the current team, excite the sell-out crowds, and surprise the MLB community, and punch themselves a ticket to the World Series in 2026.

When I moved to Escondido in 1977 I embraced the professional sports teams in San Diego. I became a Clippers, Charger and Padres fan. For life.

All I have left now is the Padres. I ain’t quitting them, ever…