Padres see benefit to getting going earlier in games

PEORIA, Ariz. — There are numerous reasons that scoring early is beneficial.

Teams that score first win nearly 70% of major league games.

So there is that.

But getting more granular from a hitter’s perspective, the pitcher that works the start of a game is the one they will see the most often and may be the only one who won’t be throwing every fastball at 98 mph or faster.

“We need to come off the gate hauling ass, putting pressure right away,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “That probably will be the easiest pitcher we face. So we better get out of the gate going.”

Starting games quicker is a point of emphasis for the Padres as they head into the 2026 season, which begins Thursday against the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park.

“The relievers that get thrown out there … you don’t really want to face those guys,” manager Craig Stammen said. “So getting runs early, especially for our club, is going to be a big deal. It’ll lead to a lot of success.”

The Padres have firsthand knowledge of how effective relief pitchers can be. Their bullpen led the major leagues with a 3.06 ERA last season. Moreover, the Padres’ 64-5 record when leading after six innings was the best in the major leagues.

But they ranked 18th in runs scored in the first six innings of games in 2025. And, significantly, the 69 games in which they led after six innings were 19 fewer than the Cubs, 17 fewer than the Yankees and Phillies, 13 fewer than the Dodgers and Brewers and nine fewer than the Blue Jays.

Those teams all finished with better overall records than the Padres — and in no small part because they gave themselves a better chance to do so from the start.

“I think No. 1 is, we’ve got a great bullpen,” Stammen said of scoring early. “And so if we can play the game with the lead, we’ll be in good shape. It’s almost like a (football) team that has a really good running game. If we can somehow sneak out to a lead, we can just milk the clock and run out the game.”

The Padres’ goal of being better early in games will get some steep tests at the beginning of the season.

They’ll face both reigning Cy Young award winners in their first 11 games.

Opening day sees Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Tigers, with Framber Valdez going the next day. Skubal has won the past two American League Cy Young awards, and Valdez finished in the top 10 every year from 2022 to 2024.

After facing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb in the finale of the season’s second series, the Padres seem likely to miss Garrett Crochet in Boston. But they are lined up to face Sonny Gray in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park on April 3. The AL’s Cy Young runner-up in 2023 has won all four of his career starts against the Padres, though he won despite allowing them seven runs in five innings while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals last July.

And in the Padres’ fourth series, something is poised to happen that has not happened before. That is when they will almost certainly face Paul Skenes for the first time.

“We’re stacked up against some guys that throw the ball really well,” Gavin Sheets said. “I think those are games that you come out and you just try to chip away right from the beginning, and that’s all you do. You’re not going out trying to put the big swing right away, but you’re trying to put a lot of pressure on them, trying to get on base, trying to do stuff on the base paths. Those are games you’re looking to win 2-1, 3-1, whatever it takes. You try to get a run every inning and just grind every at-bat.”

In general, the Padres believe their lineup is deeper this season than it has been as the start of most recent campaigns.

“If our guys are hot, we’ll line up against anybody,” hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. said. “If we’re locked in, like, it is what it is, our game plan will be our game plan.”

Planning is at the heart of how the Padres intend to strike quicker this season.

Players have complimented the type and detail of information they are receiving this spring. And during the season, the idea will be for that information to prepare them better for the starting pitcher.

“It’s understanding what he does first time through the order, his repertoire, and how he’s gonna pitch,” Souza said. “It’s about having a good head start on what you want to game plan for instead of taking the  first time through the order to understand what he does.”