San Diego Padres star Manny Machado is wrong to complain about modern Major League Baseball

It's been an unusual start to the 2026 season for the San Diego Padres, to put it mildly.

They started by going 2-5 in their first seven games, then 16-3 over their next 19 to sit at 18-8. Despite a litany of injuries, particularly in the starting rotation, they held on throughout most of May, even moving half a game up on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West with a series-opening win over LA on May 18. As recently as May 23, they were 31-20 and half a game out of first place.