The Padres are such an abject failure they will stand as a monument to what happens when talented individuals do not play team baseball.
The wait is over for the “run” we thought might be coming from this team. The Padres (67–77) are eight games out of a wild-card spot with 18 games to play. Their failure in the finer points of the game is epic. They are 0–11 in extra-inning games, 6–22 in one-run games and have never won four games in a row.
How could a team with the highest payroll in baseball outside of New York and with seven Silver Sluggers—six of whom have finished in the top six in MVP voting—turn out to be such a disappointing offensive club? This is what happens when there is not enough buy-in toward the greater good over individual numbers.
