PHOENIX – You don’t have to like him.
You can even hate him.
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado really doesn’t care.
Simply, he doesn’t play this game to make friends.
He plays this game to beat you, and if you don’t respect him for that, hey, it’s your loss.
Machado, 32, one of the fiercest competitors in all of baseball, is about to go where only 11 men in history have gone before.
He will be the 12th player to produce 2,000 hits with 350 homers before turning 33 years old.
Machado, who has 1,989 hits and 354 homers entering Saturday, is on the verge of joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez as the only men to accomplish the feat. Eight of these players are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and two have yet to be eligible but are shoo-ins with Pujols and Cabrera.
Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but Machado would love to be part of that distinguished group in Cooperstown one day, too.
“I looked up to A-Rod, I looked up to Barry [Bonds], I looked up to Albert,’ Machado tells USA TODAY Sports. “They are all the guys I played the game for. Obviously, there’s other pretty, pretty special people, but those were the main guys that inspired my game. Those were guys who played the game elite. We wanted to be those guys.
“I wanted to be A-Rod, obviously, because I was a shortstop. I wanted to have Albert’s swing. I wanted to have the power that Barry had, hitting it into the water and breaking records that were never meant to be broken. … So when people talk about that list, it’s pretty special.’
Machado, who has played shortstop in 236 games, and none since 2019, wants to be remembered as one of the greatest third basemen to ever play the game. After six All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove, he’s still playing the position better than anyone in the game, other than José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians.
There are only eight third basemen in history who have hit more home runs. He’s the only active player to hit at least 28 homers in nine consecutive full seasons. And he is showing no signs of a dropoff, hitting .309 with a .876 OPS, to go along with 12 homers and 46 RBIs entering Sunday.
What the Padres and peers admire the most about Machado is that he consistently posts. He plays every day. No matter how he feels, how much he may be hurting, he’s in the lineup. He hasn’t missed a game this season. He has played at least 150 games nine times, including two years where he played in all 162. If it means that his numbers will drop because he’s fatigued or playing hurt, he’s fine with it, knowing with him in the lineup means his team has a better chance of winning.
“It’s just crazy what he does, man,’ Padres utilityman Tyler Wade says. “Last year, he’s dealing with all of his elbow stuff and dealing with other injuries, he doesn’t come out of lineup. When you see a guy doing that, you say, ‘If he’s doing it, I can play with my injuries.’
“And it’s not like he’s just having OK years. He’s having All-Star, MVP-caliber years every single year, and he’s grinding. Everyone across the league knows what he means to the game. There’s very few players in this league that have the impact on a city and an organization, and he’s one of them.
“Really, he’s one of the most impressive guys I’ve ever been around.’
It’s no coincidence the Padres began to be a power shortly after Machado’s arrival as a free agent before the 2019 season. They have made the postseason three of the last five years, and with a 40-35 record, they’re on their way to a fourth consecutive winning season, which has happened only once in their 56-year franchise history.
“Manny coming here to San Diego is a big reason for us turning things around,’ says Padres GM A.J. Preller. “It was sending a message to the rest of baseball in terms of a premium impact player, in the prime of his career, coming to the San Diego Padres.
“We were selling him on the potential of our vision, what it was going to look like on the field, and now you see a team that’s been to the playoffs three times in the last five years. Next is to see a team led by Manny win the World Series. That’s why he plays, honestly.’
There’s nothing more that Machado would love before entering Cooperstown one day than leading the Padres to a World Series title. Twice, the Padres have been to the World Series. Twice, they got knocked off by legendary powerhouses in the 1984 Detroit Tigers and 1998 New York Yankees. They had the Los Angeles Dodgers on the ropes last year, leading 2 games to 1 in the best-of-five division series, and to this day the Dodgers will tell you the Padres were easily the best team they played all season.
“I want to win so bad, that’s why we play the game,’ Machado says. “And to win here, in a city that’s never won before, it would mean everything. It’s nothing to do with cementing your legacy or anything like that, I just want to win. When I came here, we had a vision to put this organization on another level. This organization has changed tremendously from Day 1 since I’ve been here. It’s sold out every game. And we consistently win.’
Machado, who lives on Coronado Island across the bridge from Petco Park, isn’t trying to win a popularity contest with the 29 other teams in baseball.
He’s old-school. He would have fit in perfectly with players from the 1960s and ’70s like Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, Pete Rose and all of those fiery competitors from yesteryear. No one ever accused them of being your friend, but my God, did they ever earn your respect.
It’s no different from Machado. To fully appreciate him, you’ve got to be with him. If you’re his teammate, he’s got your back. And you better have his, too.
When teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit three times in the last nine days by the Dodgers, including the last one that required him to get X-rays to make sure his hand wasn’t broken, Machado casually offered this warning to anyone who dared listen:
“Let’s just hope his scan comes back negative. (The Dodgers) got to pray for it to come back negative tomorrow. They need to set a little candle up for Tati tomorrow. Hopefully it comes back negative. That’s not a good spot to get hit. I don’t care who it is, I don’t care who’s on the mound.”
The X-rays were negative, and Tatis played the next day, but Machado was making it quite clear there would be repercussions.
“He might be one of the most misunderstood players in the game,’ Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth says. “You see him play with that edge, and he’s kind of brought that onto the rest of the team. You see the way we play. We got guys playing hard, playing every day, and that’s what he’s brought to this team ever since he’s been here. …
“You look at his career, it’s almost the same every year, 150-plus games played, 30 homers, it’s just not normal. It’s almost the perfect recipe for a guy who’s on his way to the Hall of Fame. This guy is on his own path to greatness.’
Padres manager Mike Shildt, who remembers the impact Pujols had in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse when he came up through the organization, sees a lot of similarities with Machado. He’s the unofficial captain, the team’s heart and soul and there’s not an ounce of phoniness.
“I think he’s probably one of the most misunderstood players in our game,’ Shildt says. “I know the quality of human Manny is. I know Manny’s heart. But think what’s hard today is the sensitivity, the persecution, of just having the ability of being yourself. He is learning to channel all of the things that can be a challenge to be that consistent competitor and still be the core of who you are, which is core of who Manny Machado is, which is very special. …
“It’s much more difficult now to have a strong opinion or conviction. I’m not green-lighting doing something inappropriate or to offend someone, but gosh, man, being able to be an alpha, it gets to be more of a challenge for players. Competing hard every day is still OK. You want a commitment by every player to be willing to lay out, and that’s what comes with high expectations. I won’t apologize for that, and I don’t think Manny’s going to apologize.’’
Machado should be back on baseball’s center stage once again in three weeks. He is running away in the All-Star balloting and should be the NL’s starting third baseman. It will be a chance, at least momentarily, to bask in his accomplishments, being only the fifth active player to achieve 2,000 hits.
“I haven’t really reflected on any of that,’ Machado says, “I still have a lot to accomplish, a lot to look forward to. But you definitely see what’s happening in real time, and that’s kind of surreal. You know, I just love playing the game. That’s all I think about. If I’m not playing baseball, then I don’t know what I’d be doing.
“This is what I was made to do.’
Around the basepaths
– The baseball world lost a giant in the business with the passing Friday night of baseball writer Scott Miller, who gave pancreatic cancer everything it could handle during his 20-month battle.
Miller, 62, was brilliant writer with a heart of gold, loved, admired and respected by everyone in the baseball community. His sensational book, “Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matters,’ was just released in May.
He was touched when baseball dignitaries like future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Minnesota Twins greats Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones, and many, many more reached out in the past two weeks to express their love for him.
He will be so greatly missed, but my best friend in the business, will never, ever, be forgotten.
– Former Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black, who turns 68 on June 30, could be rejoining the Rockies just a month after being dismissed as manager after eight seasons. Black is a strong candidate to rejoin the Rockies as a pitching director or special assistant
Black, a former pitching coach for Mike Scioscia with the Angels, has let friends know he has no interest in retiring and wants to remain in the game.
– The Chicago Cubs are quietly preparing for the official announcement that they will host the 2027 All-Star Game now that the stadium is getting upgraded security measures.
– San Diego Padres veteran Gold Glove catcher Martin Maldonado plans to retire after this season, giving him 15 years in the major leagues. He says he wants to take a year off after retirement, and then is interested in getting back in the game on a coaching staff.
– The New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants are keeping a close eye on versatile Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who should be available at the trade deadline.
– In the aftermath of Tampa Bay Rays reliever Hunter Bigge getting struck in the face by a foul ball in the dugout, it’s beyond time for MLB to install netting in front of the dugouts. If we’re going to protect the fans with netting stretching across the top of the dugouts, why not protect the players?
– The Arizona Diamondbacks’ playoffs hopes continue to take body blows with co-closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez undergoing season-ending elbow surgeries, joining ace Corbin Burnes and starters Jordan Montgomery and Tommy Henry.
If they’re out of the race at the trade deadline, they’ll be swarmed with calls seeking starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, along with third baseman Eugenio Suarez, first baseman Josh Naylor and closer Shelby Miller.
– Rival teams would love to get their hands on Cardinals starters Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas, but they have full no-trade clauses, and have no interest in waiving them.
– While the Los Angeles Angels certainly have some nice trade chips like left-hander Tyler Anderson, closer Kenley Jansen and infielder Luis Rengifo, they don’t plan to sell at the trade deadline unless they suddenly fall apart.
– It could be a rather dull trade deadline if teams don’t start dropping out of the race in the next five weeks. Check out the standings: There are only six teams who are out of playoff contention: the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics in the AL, and the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins in the NL.
– Ronald Acuña Jr. has played in only 25 games, but the way he’s performing, he might be playing himself right into the All-Star Game. He’s hitting .382 with a 1.176 OPS, including eight homers and 14 RBI. If selected, he’s volunteering for the Home Run Derby too.
– Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez was on the verge of being designated for assignment at year ago at this time, but since July 7, 2024, has become the finest power-hitting third baseman in the game. He since has 46 homers and 132 RBIs, joining the 300-homer club on Friday, and should be a coveted free agent after the season. The only players with more homers in this stretch are Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – while no one has more RBIs.
– Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes has permitted a total of just 21 earned runs in 16 starts this season.
He has four victories.
Really.
– What a sensational start to a big-league career for Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who opened by throwing 11 no-hit innings in his first two starts. He is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to have more victories (2) than hits permitted (1) in his first two career starts, according to OptaSTATS.
– Look who’s back as good as ever. Jacob deGrom is 7-2 with a 2.24 ERA.
DeGrom, 37, has made 12 consecutive starts pitching at least five innings and allowing two or fewer runs. It’s the longest streak in the Rangers/Senators history, and the longest by any pitcher 35 or older since 1900, according to STATS.
– Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado is certainly making a case for the Hall of Fame by becoming one of only seven players in history to hit at least 350 homers with 10 Gold Glove awards, joining Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt as the only infielder to accomplish the feat. The others: Catcher Johnny Bench and outfielders Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Al Kaline and Andruw Jones.
– That cheering sound you heard in the upper Midwest were the Minnesota Twins’ owners celebrating the news that the Rays are in advanced talks to sell the team to Jacksonville developer Patrick Zalupski for a reported $1.7 billion.
If the Rays are being sold for that amount without a ballpark, the Twins’ asking price of $1.7 billion could be an absolute steal.
– The Phillies, who attempted to lock up DH Kyle Schwarber in spring training, aren’t hiding their intentions to re-sign him when he’s a free agent. They know how valuable he is in their clubhouse in addition to being a lethal left-handed bat.
– If Red Sox first baseman Tristan Casas never got hurt, Rafael Devers would still be in Boston, and everyone would have been spared the drama.
– The feud between Red Sox boss Craig Breslow and Devers is reminiscent of the hostility between former Rockies GM Jeff Bridich and Arenado when they ultimately traded Arenado to St. Louis.
It was an utter disaster.
The Rockies have never been the same, and on pace for 125 losses, their third consecutive 100-loss season. They used the savings of the Arenado trade to sign free agent bust Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract, Bridich was gone two months later and Arenado is on his way to the Hall of Fame.
– The Red Sox say that that they had conversations with the Mariners, Cubs, Padres, Blue Jays and Atlanta about Devers before dealing him to San Francisco.
– If the Giants had not agreed to assume the $254.5 million remaining in Devers’ contract, Giants owner Greg Johnson says there would have been no trade.
Still, even after picking up his entire contract, the Giants added only $4.8 million to their payroll with the CBT because of the heavy deferrals in Devers’ contract. It counts for only $15.8 million while the Giants dumped the $11 million Jordan Hicks is owed this year.
– The Giants ever so quietly have been acting like, well, a big-market team. Why, after assuming Devers’ contract, they also shelled out huge deals for Willy Adames (seven years, $182 million), Matt Chapman (six years, $151 million) and Jung Hoo Lee (five years, $104.75 million) the past two offseasons.
– There’s no better rivalry in baseball these days than the Dodgers and Padres, two franchises who legitimately hate each other. In their four-game series in Los Angeles, there were eight hit-by-pitches, a benches-clearing incident, two managers bumping one another on the field, and two managers and a player being suspended.
– Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis has been hit five times by the Dodgers since comeback from his PED suspension in April, 2023, and only six other times by the rest of baseball.
– Fabulous seeing Cubs legend Sammy Sosa back at Wrigley Field on Friday for the first time in 21 years, with the crowd chanting ‘Sammy! Sammy!’
‘This is my house,’ Sosa told reporters during his media session. ‘I always believed it was going to happen. The time is perfect. Now I’m here again, and I will continue to be here. The relationship is tremendous, so hopefully we can continue that until the day that I die.’
– MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will be in Las Vegas to be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the A’s new home on the Vegas strip in 2028.
– You think the Rangers rely heavily on Corey Seager?
They are 166-86 when he gets a hit in a game, and 107-202 when they don’t.
The Rangers are going to go offensively only as far as Seager takes them.
– While the Padres are desperately looking for a left fielder, can you imagine if they still had James Wood, who was sent to the Nationals in the Juan Soto trade? Wood, 22, is hitting .281 with 20 homers and 56 RBI this season.
Meanwhile, Nationals shortstop C.J. Abrams who was also in the trade, should be in the All-Star Game where it’s played in his hometown of Atlanta. He leads NL shortstops in OPS (.882) and slugging (.478).
– Rockies starter German Marquez’s trade value is starting to climb, yielding three or fewer runs in six of his last eight starts, with a 3.47 ERA in June.
– The Houston Astros, who have a comfortable lead in the AL West, are about to get a few reinforcements with starter Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Spencer Arrighetti and Luis Garcia all making their way back from surgeries and could be joining the Astros in the second half.
– Teams may want to steal a page out of the Angels’ scouting report on facing Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. He hit just .182 (4-for-22) with only one extra-base hit and nine strikeouts against them this season.
– Kudos to Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for calming everyone down during the heated series against the Padres, waving his team off and telling them to stay in the dugout when he was hit for the second time.
– Double Duty Warriors: The Cardinals have already played six doubleheaders this season. The rest of baseball has combined for just 11.
– The Dodgers passed 2 million in attendance in just 40 home games, the quickest in franchise history.
– Pope Leo XIV got the White Sox fans in a frenzy when he joined in on a “White Sox’ chant while waving to the crowd traveling through Vatican City.
– Remember when Yankees closer Luke Weaver was reported to be out four to six weeks with his left hamstring strain? He was back in less than three.
– While Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos was benched for a game after snapping at Phillies manager Rob Thomson after being pulled out of a game for defensive reasons, he certainly had no problem with the decision a day later.
“We’re two grown men that show up for work every day with the common goal of winning a World Series,” Castellanos told reporters. “If everybody just agrees on everything and doesn’t speak their mind, there’s not going to be passion there. Emotions drive people, especially passionate people. So, to think that there’s going to be eight months of consistently being together and not butting heads at all, that probably doesn’t happen.”
– Just when you thought Atlanta may be done for the year, well, they’re not going away quietly, sweeping the Mets at home this week.
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Atlanta DH Marcell Ozuna tells reporters.
– White Sox starter Shane Smith, who was plucked off the Milwaukee Brewers’ roster during the winter, could become the first Rule 5 pick to make the All-Star team since Dan Uggla of the 2006 Florida Marlins, according to STATS Perform.
– It will be fascinating to see how outfielder Jurickson Profar performs when he’s scheduled to be activated July 2 with Atlanta after his 80-game drug suspension. He is expected to be the No. 2 hitter in Atlanta’s lineup.
– Orioles veteran Charlie Morton, who looked like he was done five weeks ago when he was demoted to the bullpen with a 9.38 ERA, suddenly is yielding a 2.29 ERA and a 31.3% strikeout rate in his last 35 ⅓ innings.
– There’s no analytic studies needed for the Texas Rangers to know what’s needed to win games.
They are 27-4 when they score four or more runs.
– Look for Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer, 40, to make his return to the big leagues as early as Tuesday, June 24. He hasn’t pitched since March 29 when he left with a thumb injury.
– Just when you thought that Chris Sale couldn’t possibly come close to duplicating his Cy Young season, he’s back for an encore, yielding a 1.23 ERA in his last 10 starts, striking out 82 in 66 innings.
– It’s hard to believe that Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor hasn’t been an All-Star since he played for Cleveland in 2019.
That will change.
He’ll be voted the NL’s starting shortstop, tallying 1.02 million votes through the first update. Mookie Betts is second with just 597,188.
– No one could have imagined that the Yankees’ powerful offense would go AWOL, scoring seven runs in a seven-game span, losing six of them.
The last time that happened?
Would you believe Sept. 1-7, 1908, according to researcher Katie Sharp.
– Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernandez after learning that Dodgers owner Mark Walter was also purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion, the richest purchase in U.S. Sports history.
“It was more of a shock like, ‘Holy (expletive)!’ We know you were rich, but you’re that rich, kind of thing,” Hernandez told the LA Times.
– So, just how did Javier Baez of the Detroit Tigers celebrate his 10-year anniversary in MLB?
The dude hit two home runs.
“It’s been a long road, lots of ups and downs,’ Baez told reporters. “In this game, there are a lot of ups and downs and I’ve been down many times and never kept my head down. I kept working and I’m going to keep working until the last day. Honestly, I’m impressed with the way I’m still doing this.’’
– Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who hit his MLB-leading 30th homer on June 21, is now on pace to hit an AL record 65 homers.
Next up on his bingo card:
He is one stolen base shy of being the third primary catcher in history to hit 30 or more homers and steal at least 10 bases in a season, joining Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk (37 homers and 17 steals in 1985) and Pudge Rodriguez (35 homers, 25 steals in 1999).
– Everyone counted the Tampa Bay Rays out in mid-May, muddling along with a 18-22 record, averaging just 3.8 runs a game. They have since gone 24-14, averaging 5.7 runs a game, and breathing down the necks of the Yankees, just 1 ½ games out of firt place in the AL East.
– It’s going to be pretty cool seeing former Cardinals legends Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina manage against one another at the WBC next spring with Pujols leading the Dominican Republic and Molina back with Puerto Rico. They each aspire to be major-league managers.
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