San Diego Padres 2025 Season Preview

The Padres won 11 more games in 2024 than in the prior season. They won’t remember that. What they will never forget until they win a World Series is how the last campaign ended. They were leading the Dodgers 3-2 in the NLDS and then went 18 innings without scoring a run as LA won the series and continued to capture the World Series. That’s a lot of zeros on the scoreboard to ruin a good year.

2025 San Diego Padres Win Total Projection & World Series Odds

In MLB news, the Padres’ projected win total sits at 85 ½. The World Series odds are +2800. Those may seem like juicy odds for a team that won 93 games last year. MLB Playoff Predictions will be hesitant to jump all over SD because of one huge factor: They share the NL West with the Dodgers.

2025 San Diego Padres Projected Starting Lineup

• Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
• Luis Arraez, 1B
• Manny Machado, 3B
• Xander Bogaerts, SS
• Jackson Merrill, CF
• Yuli Gurriel, DH
• Jake Cronenworth, 2B
• Brandon Lockridge, LF
• Elias Díaz, C

Lineup Strengths and Weaknesses

This lineup is loaded and likely would be favored in other divisions. However, MLB picks have to take the Dodgers into consideration when it comes to the Padres. The hitters are going to have to deliver all throughout the season if San Diego hopes to compete for the division title.

You can’t go wrong making MLB predictions that the Padres will be among the tops in the league in home run hitters. They had eight players in double figures last year en route to 190 overall. Manny Machado led the way in the power department with 29 home runs. Missing from the order will be Jurickson Profar whose bat and 24 home runs are now Atlanta Braves.

Another player who will be gone is Ha-Seong Kim, who is now a Tampa Bay Ray. He led the Padres with 22 steals in 2024 and that speed must be made up for to keep the wheels in motion.

Expect more punch from Fernando Tatis Jr., who will certainly play more than the 102 games he saw last year. Tatis managed 21 home runs in those appearances. Tatis and Machado could be good players to use in same-game MLB baseball parlay picks.

Keep an eye on how many at-bats Yuli Gurriel gets. He signed a minor-league contract and made the Opening Day roster but doesn’t appear to be the same player he was for years with the Astros.

San Diego Padres Projected Starting Rotation

1. Michael King, RHP
2. Dylan Cease, RHP
3. Nick Pivetta, RHP
4. Kyle Hart, LHP
5. Randy Vásquez, RHP

King and Cease combined for 27 wins against MLB teams in 2024. They create a solid tandem atop the rotation. The Padres will benefit from having them on the hill in many MLB matchups.

Pivetta pitched four full seasons with the Red Sox. His ERA every year was above four. San Diego has to hope that can be attributed to throwing in Fenway Park. Vasquez is 26 years old, and San Diego needs him to grow as a starter. He’s shown glimpses but no one will be certain of what they will get from start to finish until he shows consistency.

Hart is an interesting one. He won the equivalent of the Cy Young Award in the Korean League. Before that gets everyone pumped, remember he has only pitched in the majors in one season and that was 2020 with the Red Sox. That was a long time ago.

For the start of the season, San Diego will be without Yu Darvish (arm soreness/inflammation). He’s the top dog when he’s healthy and if he can come back and avoid more MLB injuries. It will bolster San Diego big time.

Projected Bullpen

Jason Adam, Omar Cruz, Jeremiah Estrada, Alek Jacob, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon, Wandy Peralta, Robert Suarez

The Padres have more reason to hate the Dodgers who lured Tanner Scott, an absolute gem of a reliever, with a four-year contract. That’s a brutal hit.

Suarez had 36 saves last season and needs to do the same for the Padres. They must close out games strongly. This is a team that can’t afford to have its heart broken with late-game losses.

One good sign for this team is the ability for it to deliver innings in MLB matchups. Four relievers last year threw more than 60 innings and four more worked more than 40. That gives Mike Shildt plenty of options.

San Diego Padres Schedule and Key Matchups

People will have a good idea early if the Pads have shaken off the disappointing end to 2024. The first two series are against tough foes, the Braves and Guardians.

There is a nine-game road trip in May with the Yankees sandwiched between the Pirates and Rockies.

San Diego doesn’t see the Dodgers until June but the teams then meet twice in a week with a three-game series at Petco Park and four at Chavez Ravine. The rivals will meet six more times in August.

Looking ahead to September, the schedule favors the Padres as they will play 16 games at Petco as opposed to nine on the road. If they can stay with or ahead of the Dodgers, this could be a key to winning the NL West.