With the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres locked up in a battle for the top of the National League West, an MLB insider believes that the Padres have a separate lead that will push them to the division title.
In a “error territory” interview on Tuesday, MLB insider Jim Bowden of the Athletic predicted that San Diego bullen could be the difference between the Padres that win the NL West and possibly make the postseason as a wildcard team.
San Diego made a big step on the MLB trading deadline to strengthen his bullpen, so that Mason Miller was received from athletics. In his first five games with the Padres, the 26-year-old right-handed 12 of the 20 batters with which he is dealing with, on average, has a ridiculous 20.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
Three of those performances also resulted in Holds, since Miller entered the game in the seventh or eighth inning prior to Robert Suarez.
Suarez leads all the relievers with 33 Saves this season and is especially dominant since the All-Star Break, with a 1.86 ERA being placed over 9.2 innings.
That has been continued what an incredibly strong season in general has been for the Bullpen Padres. Playing Tuesday in Tuesday’s game, the cumulative era of the Padres from their relievers is the best of every MLB team.
Now, however, one of the biggest tests of Bowden’s theory is that the bullpen from San Diego can be a difference in the division.
With the Dodgers with a 1.0-game lead on the Padres in the Division on the way to Tuesday’s game, many are already looking ahead to the next two weekends as games that will decide which team can not only earn the NL West title, but also a potential first round of late season.
On Friday the Padres visit Chavez Ravine for three games. On the following Friday (August 22) the Dodgers Petco Park invades for a set of three games.
Those six games are the last regular season matchups between the two divisiteitans and are an opportunity for the Padres to avenge previous losses for the Dodgers, who have a 5-2 lead over San Diego in their previous meetings this season.
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