Padres News: Michael Wacha Admits He Would Not Want to Face Friars Next Season

The Padres' bats have the potential to be elite.

On Opening Day, it seemed to be a safe gamble that the Padres would be in the playoffs. The San Diego front office sure felt that way, as they spent the third-most money in all of Major League Baseball to construct a dangerous roster of experienced sluggers like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr, Xander Bogaerts and Juan Soto.

The problem is, they didn't slug when they needed to most. An inability to finish games or get hot (the Padres didn't win four games in a row all season until mid-September) prevented San Diego from living up to the high potential they had going into the season.

But there were flashes.

On nights when the Padres' bats were on the same page, the Padres looked unstoppable. With many of their star hitters set to return — barring any offseason trades — the Padres could easily improve at the plate and become that dangerous team fans expected going into the 2023 season.

Starting pitcher Michael Wacha thought that September, in which the Padres won 20 of 27 games, showed how dominant San Diego could be.

"These past three weeks, you kind of see the way this team was put together, how explosive the offense can be, how dominant the pitching staff can be," Wacha said. "The wins started racking up here. I was talking with some of the guys: I don't want to face this lineup next year. It's an absolutely studly lineup."

(Via AJ Cassavell,

MLB.com

)

Wacha also had an impressive season, finishing with a 3.22 ERA and a 14-4 record in his first and possibly only season as a Padre. Wacha said that he is unsure of where he will be next season.

But wherever it is, he knows that the Padres' ceiling will be very high, and it'll be a tall task for any pitcher to face that lineup.