Seven Straight

(This is the audio-only podcast version of Monday’s MartyTimeTV / Section 1904 joint venture. You can find and subscribe to this podcast on Apple and Spotify and right here on Substack by clicking the button below. To watch this episode on YouTube, click here) The Padres are rolling. A sweep of the Giants and a seven-game winning streak has created some breathing room in the NL Wild Card race and the Padres are a season-high 13 games over .500. We talked about the current standings (below) and asked a question that seemed far-fetched 10 days ago: Can the Padres catch the Phillies or Cubs? We went through the remaining schedule for each team and built hypothetical scenarios that could - I said in italics could - result in the Padres hosting a Wild Card series. But next - the Rockies. LoDo. Altitude. Rocky Mountain Oysters. The Padres are also running all over everybody. San Diego ranks second in MLB in stolen bases, with Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts leading the charge. All three have set new career highs with Merrill going from ONE swipe in 2025 to 26 and counting. As for the pitching. After a series of close, stressful games in San Francisco, how much is left in the bullpen as the Padres head to Colorado with no off-day? Will the rotation and relief corps hold up if these games continue to come down to the final innings? The Giants series already forced San Diego to piece together the back end of the series finale with some less-used relievers. The Rockies have lost seven straight but we know how things go at Coors Field. We also talked about one of the great mysteries of San Diego sports: Why does San Diego State consistently have such a terrible-looking passing game? Different coaches, different quarterbacks, same phenomenon. It was a rough performance over the weekend at UCLA and an all-too-familiar looking box score. San Diego FC had a miserable week, capped by a 5-0 home loss to Philadelphia. Now the questions are being asked if this is a sinking ship or whether SDFC should feel pretty fortunate to still be sitting in the final playoff position in the West. Philadelphia has shown how quickly things can change. Last year’s Supporters Shield winning team started the season 1-10-4 (W-L-D) and are now the hottest team in Major League Soccer. Can San Diego pull off a similar turnaround? Up next: Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. And finally, the big question: Does any of this really matter? We considered the possibility that AI could destroy mankind within a few years, as some have speculated. So there’s that. At least our weather is back to normal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dsmithshow.substack.com