Opening week was a bit of a mess

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Randy Vásquez #98 of the San Diego Padres celebrates after inducing a ground ball to end the top of the sixth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park on March 28, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images The 2-4 record at the end of the first week of the 2026 season reflected less than good execution on multiple levels for the San Diego Padres. The starters had one excellent performance from Randy Vasquez (six innings pitched, no runs and eight strikeouts) and an acceptable one from Michael King but Nick Pivetta, Walker Buehler and, especially, Germán Márquez left fans a bit panicked the first time through the rotation.

The defense wasn’t especially stellar overall, either. Miscommunications, bad routes, throwing to the wrong base and errors/dropped balls contributed to both the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants tallying runs they shouldn’t have. Then there was the offense.

Until the 7-1 win in the final game against the Giants, the offense was sorely lacking. They barely avoided a shutout with a ninth inning home run by Jackson Merrill in first game versus the Giants and were unable to score more than three runs in five of the six games. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts was quick to note that the Tarik Skubal they saw on Opening Day was not even the best Tarik Skubal.

Logan Webb is the ace for the Giants and he was inconsistent until later in the game that the Padres lost 9-3. Even the bullpen, definitely the strength of this team, had multiple hiccups over the first five games. First year manager Craig Stammen will learn as the season goes along, and bullpen management is the toughest part of his on-field job, but he made a few questionable decisions himself.