The San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants are separated by just one game in the NL West, which makes their upcoming four-game series at Oracle Park a crucial one. The “Dads” won both games of a series down South in April, but with both these teams decidedly better at home this season (20-10 for San Diego, 17-9 for the Giants), the boys in orange and black may have an advantage this week, especially with the Padres somewhat banged up and tired.

Yu Darvish is out with an elbow injury and Michael King, who beat the Giants in April, is out with a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Left fielder/DH Gavin Sheets, who has been carrying the Padres with five home runs and 13 RBI in the last nine game, left Sunday’s game after crashing into the left field wall and hurting his ribs and wrist — but avoided a concussion. He’s almost certainly out for Monday’s game, a bonus for Logan Webb, since Sheets is 5-for-10 lifetime against him.

Scary moment for Gavin Sheets in the top of the 4th. Sheets managed to stand up and appears to be alert. He will exit this ballgame, and Brandon Lockridge will sub in left field. #Pirates @ #Padres pic.twitter.com/xSRqQubvuM

— @JohnSilvaJr (@JohnSilvaJr) June 1, 2025

With Jason Heyward out with an oblique strain, the Padres have holes in left field and at DH. Those will likely be filled by some combination of Brandon Longridge (right-handed, .189/.241/.284), Tyler Wade (left-handed, .246/.350/.290), or right-handed utility infielder Jose Iglesias (righty, .245/.303/.291) with a player like Xander Bogaerts or Luis Arraez moving to DH. Arraez is 8-for-13 against Webb in his career, perhaps neutralizing Webb’s ability to induce ground balls by thriving on ground ball singles.

The Padres offense is led by Manny Machado (.308/.373/.488) and Fernando Tatis, Jr. (.265/.336/.484, 13 HR). Machado has been hot recently, launching four homers in his last nine games and hitting .324. Tatis is slumping, with just two extra-base hits in his last 12 games. Given his history against the Giants, that simply means he’s due for a big game.

One advantage the Giants will have is throwing left-handers Robbie Ray and Kyle Harrison in the series’ final two games, as Arraez, Jackson Merrill, and Jake Cronenworth are all decidedly worse facing left-handed pitching, which Machado and Tatis basically crush any pitcher regardless of his handedness. The weakness of the Padres’ offense this season has been a lack of production in left field, some rough hitting from catchers Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado, and a below-average year from Arraez — and very little production off the bench.

That being said, the Padres scored six runs on Sunday, something the Giants haven’t managed to do since a 9-1 win over the Sacramento River Athletics on May 16. For this series, Patrick Bailey has hit well off both Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease in limited at-bats (they’re starting Wednesday and Thursday), and Willy Adames has hit Pivetta well. Against closer Roberto Suarez, the Giants collectively have only three hits in 26 at-bats, though two were home runs by Wilmer Flores and Heliot Ramos.

Matt Chapman may be the team’s hottest hitter with three straight multi-hit games Thursday-Saturday, raising his percentages by 20 points across the board in the past week. Jung Hoo Lee has had a power drought, failing to come up with an extra-base hit on the team’s nine-game road trip, while Mike Yastrzemski is in the middle of a 3-for-39 slump. And LaMonte Wade, Jr. slashed .219/.296/.313, which is terrible for a first baseman but somehow a huge improvement on his April numbers (.149/.296/.284).

Overall, expect some strong pitching on both sides, especially in the Pivetta-Ray and Cease-Harrison battles. San Diego is expected to promote someone from Triple-A to start Tuesday against Landen Roupp, likely 25-year-old right-hander Ryan Bergert, who last started for the El Paso Chihuahuas on Wednesday, putting him on five days rest for Tuesday. Bergert made nine starts for the Chihuahuas in his first season at Triple-A, with a 3.75 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 36 innings.

The X factor is the weather. It’s supposed to be relatively warm by San Francisco standards at night (around 60 degrees) and most of the first three games are expected to feature the wind blowing out around 10 MPH. At this point, these teams’ power hitters need all the help they can get.

Series Overview
San Diego Padres
33-24, 2nd in NL West
Streak: W1, 6-4 last 10 games, 13-14 Away
242 RS – 226 RA

San Francisco Giants
33 – 26, 3rd in NL West
Streak: W1, 4-6 last 10 games, 17-9 Home
248 RS – 206 RA

Schedule & Projected starters:
Monday, June 2nd, 6:45 PM PT
Stephen Kolek, RHP Logan Webb, RHP

3 – 1 (5 GS), 4.11 ERA 5 – 5 (12 GS), 2.82 ERA
Tuesday, June 3rd 6:45 PM PT
Undecided, LHP Landen Roupp, RHP

N/A 3 – 4 (11 GS), 3.54 ERA
Wednesday, June 4th, 6:45 PM PT
Nick Pivetta, RHP Kyle Harrison, LHP

6-2 (11 GS), 2.74 ERA 1 – 6 (6 G, 2 GS), 2.51 ERA
Thursday, June 5th, 12:45 PM PT
Dylan Cease, RHP Robbie Ray, LHP

1-4 (12 GS), 4.66 ERA 7 – 1 (12 GS), 2.43 ERA