The San Diego Padres are 19-9 through Monday night, the best record in the National League and two games clear of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. The number that jumps off the page is starting pitcher ERA. The Padres rotation has a 2.41 ERA through 28 games, the lowest in baseball. Yu Darvish, in what is likely his final contract year at age 39, is 4-1 with a 1.94 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. Dylan Cease has 49 strikeouts in 36 innings. Michael King, the trade deadline acquisition who came over from the Yankees in 2024, is 5-0 and has not allowed more than two earned runs in any start.
The lineup is the bigger surprise. Manager Mike Shildt has been running Fernando Tatis Jr. in the leadoff spot, a configuration the front office resisted for two years. Tatis is hitting .312 with a .402 on base percentage and seven stolen bases. Manny Machado, who restructured his contract in February to defer money into his late thirties, has 22 RBI and a .968 OPS. Jackson Merrill, the 22 year old who finished second in 2024 Rookie of the Year voting, has shifted from center to right field after the offseason addition of Luis Robert Jr. and is hitting .295 with eight home runs. The bullpen, anchored by Robert Suarez and Jason Adam, has converted 14 of 15 save opportunities.
The Dodgers are 17-11 and have looked beatable for the first time since 2021. Mookie Betts hit the injured list April 14 with a left hamstring strain and is not expected back until the second week of May. Shohei Ohtani is hitting .268 with nine home runs and is back to two-way action with a 3.10 ERA across five starts, but the rotation around him has been ordinary. Tyler Glasnow has missed three turns with elbow inflammation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto sits at 3-2 with a 3.84 ERA. Roki Sasaki, the Japanese phenom signed in January 2025, has a 4.21 ERA across 25 innings and walked 14 hitters in his last three starts. The Dodgers are still the betting favorite to win the division at -135 on FanDuel, but the gap to the Padres has narrowed from a preseason +650 line.
The third place team in the division is the Arizona Diamondbacks at 14-13. Corbin Carroll is healthy after his shoulder surgery cost him most of 2025 and is hitting .288. Ketel Marte is on the IL with an oblique strain. The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies are 12-15 and 9-19 respectively. The NL West is shaping up like a true two team race for the first time since the Rockies pushed the Dodgers in 2018, with the Padres holding home field advantage in the season series 4-2 through the first six meetings.
The schedule helps San Diego in May. The Padres play 18 of their next 27 games at Petco Park, including a six game homestand against the Rockies and Pirates that begins Friday. Their rotation lines up so that Darvish, Cease, and King will all face the Dodgers in the May 19-21 series at Petco. The Dodgers have a tougher 27 game stretch with road series in Atlanta, New York against the Mets, and Philadelphia. The Atlanta and Philadelphia series both feature ace pitching matchups against Spencer Strider and Zack Wheeler.
The All Star Game is in Detroit this year on July 14. Tatis, Machado, and Darvish are all on track to start. Darvish would be the first Padre to start an All Star Game since Andy Ashby in 1999. The trade deadline is July 31. Padres GM A.J. Preller has the second highest payroll flexibility in the National League after a series of December extensions and is widely expected to be aggressive on bullpen and outfield depth, with one National League executive telling The Athletic that Preller "is going to be the most active buyer at the deadline if the Padres are still in first by July 1."
The story underneath the standings is health. Petco Park's playing surface, the team's training staff, and the new spring training facility in Arizona were all upgraded after a 2024 season where Padre pitchers logged 14 IL trips. The 2026 team has lost two starters to the IL through 28 games. The Dodgers, by contrast, have already used 11 different starting pitchers and have nine players on the IL. That gap has been the difference through the first month.
Tonight's game pits Padres lefty Adrian Morejon against Dodgers right hander Tony Gonsolin in San Diego. First pitch is 9:40 ET on ESPN. The Dodgers come into Petco for three games starting May 5, and the Padres travel to Dodger Stadium for three games starting July 8.