Padres' Jake Cronenworth Believes Team Has Ability To Win Every Night

The confidence the Padres need.

Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Padres are still looking to rebound from a disappointing 2023 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs after they made it all the way to the National League Championship Series.

So far, the Padres are on pace to do that this year. The Padres have a 49-44 record and currently occupy the second spot in the NL wildcard race. Part of their improved success this year is the belief the team has in themselves. While they no longer have some of the superstars they did last season in Josh Hader and Juan Soto, this team appears to be more aligned in what they can do.

Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth epitomizes this belief, saying that the team believes they can win any game on any night.

“It feels like we’re in it no matter what,” Cronenworth said, via MLB.com's AJ Cassavell. “It’s one quality at-bat away. Then it’s the next guy, then the next guy. We stack those on top of each other. I think we’ve done it so much this year that we know we can do it. It’s a belief in the group that that’s possible every night.”

The Padres almost put this mentality back into action again on Saturday, when they came near a walk-off win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings. They managed to push the game into extra innings, but couldn't match the Diamondbacks' 10th inning performance, even when they had the bases loaded. This one fell short, but overall, the Padres have 22 comeback wins on the season.

This belief has come through in other ways and let the team garner wins and even series wins against teams that are better or higher ranked than them, like the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Atlanta Braves.