From Section 121 of Petco Park – Get ’em while they’re hot!
The San Diego Padres are the most dangerous team in Baseball, the most entertaining team in Baseball and arguably the most well rounded team in Baseball right now. The Friars go 5-1 on their six-game homestand against the rubbish Rockies and challenging Cubbies, with their sole loss coming via an extra innings ghost runner coming around to score. The Padres still hold on to first place in the National League West, along with having the best record in MLB.
Here are my takeaways from this incredible homestand at Petco Park:
HOLY SHEETS
It didn’t take long for the Padres fans at Petco Park to find their new name-chant champion. Gavin Sheets claims the title recently held by fan-favorite Ha-Seong Kim, after Kim departed to the Tampa Bay Rays this past offseason.
47,000 people chanting your name via a double entendre, and then delivering for those fans with a two-run single, has to be one hell of a feeling for Gavin Sheets.
A 2nd round draft pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, Sheets came up through the minors as one of the White Sox’s top prospects. But outside of a decent Rookie season back in 2021, Gavin hadn’t lived up to expectations with the Chi-Sox, leading to him being non-tendered by the South Siders this past offseason.
His final stat line with the White Sox:
.230/.295/.385, 46 HR, 175 RBI for an OPS of .680 and an OPS+ of 90 (MLB average for OPS+ is 100) over 4 seasons in Chicago.
Who would’ve thought that all the 6’3″ 235 lbs Sheets needed was the sunshine of San Diego & Victor Rodriguez as his hitting coach, to unlock his hitting prowess.
His stat line so far with the Padres:
.318/.367/.500, 2 HR, 10 RBI for an OPS of .867 and an OPS+ of 146 in 16 games with the Padres.
Good for Sheets, good for the Padres, and good for the Faithful to have this guy finding life in his game in America’s Finest City. Let that chant continue to ring out through Petco Park all season long.
The Faithful Keep Selling Out Petco Park
546,857 humans have attended 13 games at Petco Park this season. That’s an average attendance just north of 42,000, every single time the Padres take the field in the Gaslamp.
It’s so beautiful, plain and simple. Many of us remember the days where Petco Park either looked like a ghost town, or a second home to a visiting ball club’s fans who wanted to visit America’s Finest.
Now…it’s filled to the brim with Padres fans on a nightly basis:
What’s more impressive? 47,078 on a Monday night in April?
Or 41,562 for a Wednesday 1:00 p.m. start in April with no give-away attached to it?
And It’s one thing to pack the place; it’s another to create an atmosphere as wild and electric as Faithful have to start the 2025 season. The team feeds off of it too, that’s why they are 12-1 at home to start this season. These are professionals, they want to put on a show for a packed audience; they’re not blind to what goes on at other MLB ballparks.
Very few, if any, come close to what the Padres get to play in front of on a nightly basis at Petco. Imagine even writing that sentence back in 2019, when the team had Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the squad. The thought of writing that sentence back in 2017, is unfathomable.
Good on you fellow members of the Faithful, for creating this fortress for the Friars, and good on the Padres for putting a ballclub on the field worthy of selling out 81+ games a season for.
Fernando Tatis Jr. Will Make A Run at Winning the 2025 NL MVP
Imagine it…the best season of Fernando Tatis Jr.’s career. This player, his talent, what he has worked hard to become at the Major League level; I can see it, and it’s beautiful. I have to be honest, in my daydream of the “Perfect Tatis” season, it looks a hell of a lot like what we are witnessing right now:
.354/.427/.646 for a 1-Dot OPS (1.073), and an OPS+ of 202. 6 HR, 12 RBI, 6 SB in 17 games to start the 2025 MLB season.
El Nino is playing his best baseball of his career at the dish, to parlay with his Platinum Glove level defense in the field.
It’s going to be hard to convince voters to vote Fernando over MLB’s star child in Shohei Ohtani, but I do think Fernando is on pace to put up a statistical season that will make their incredibly obvious Dodgers bias irrelevant.
Fernando’s power swing is just so beautiful to watch. I get this video is during BP, but he went on to crush 2 Dingers that night vs. the Cubs; which placed him 2nd All-Time for Home runs hit at Petco Park, passing Adrian Gonzalez.
He’s the type of player that leaves his teammates, some of the best professional ballplayers on the planet, in complete awe of his raw ability.
My Dad said it best today while attending his first game of the season, “Man, this ballclub is going to be one we look back on and appreciate 10 years from now.” I couldn’t agree more; drink it in Padres fans, no matter where this season may finish, we’re living in the “Good Old Days.”
19 down, 143 to go. Bring on the ballpark formerly known as “The Juice Box” (I refuse to call it Daikin Park), and Detroit. Also, could another NL West team besides the Rockies lose a game please, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Cheers
San Diego Sports Blog 
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