{"id":404457,"date":"2026-07-19T16:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404457\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:02:29","slug":"padres-pregame-dwindling-postseason-odds-and-looking-to-avoid-a-sweep-in-kansas-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404457\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres pregame: Dwindling postseason odds and looking to avoid a sweep in Kansas City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Padres\u2019 odds of turning this season around are getting longer by the day.<\/p>\n<p>After dropping the first two games in Kansas City, their postseason odds at Fangraphs has dropped from 12% to 8% heading into Sunday\u2019s series finale.<\/p>\n<p>First pitch is a 11:10 a.m. on Padres.TV.<\/p>\n<p>Three regulars are hitless to start the unofficial second half: Manny Machado (0-for-7, 2 BBs), Jackson Merrill (0-for-9) and Gavin Sheets (0-for-8).<\/p>\n<p>Facing a lefty, Sheets is out of the lineup on Sunday as is second baseman Jake Cronenworth.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sunday at The K. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/C0QCoqm0Xt\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/C0QCoqm0Xt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Padres\/status\/2078860109481185339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meantime, the Padres will stick with Merrill (.612 OPS) in the two-hole and give switch-hitter Luis Rengifo (.529 OPS) his first start as a Padres.<\/p>\n<p>Rengifo will bat seventh, between designated hitter Miguel Andujar (.732 OPS) and left fielder Jase Bowen (.302 OPS).<\/p>\n<p>The Padres (48-50) are two games under .500, 3\u00bd games out of a wild-card spot and have five teams to overtake to get back into playoff position.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how the Royals (40-59), who had lost five in a row before winning the first two games of this series, will line up as they look for a sweep:<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sunday starters. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Vpn3U9eD6q\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Vpn3U9eD6q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Royals\/status\/2078856028456906912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s pitching matchup<\/p>\n<p>Padres RHP Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez (4-2, 5.18 ERA)<\/p>\n<p>He has a 3.75 ERA in three appearances (12 IP) since returning from forearm nerve inflammation, the last two being starts (9 IP, 3 ER). Marquez has a 2.75 ERA in four appearances on the road and a 7.36 ERA in five starts at Petco Park. He has a 6.19 ERA in three starts against the Royals, the last in 2025 (4 IP, 6 ER).<\/p>\n<p>Here is how Marquez has fared against current Royals:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-article_inline lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/marquez-kc.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9967977\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Royals LHP Noah Cameron (5-7, 4.89 ERA)<\/p>\n<p>The second-year starter\u2019s ERA is nearly two runs higher than last year (2.99), when he finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Cameron has a 7.20 ERA over his last six starts. He lost his start last year against the Padres in Kansas City (5 1\/3 IP, 2 ER).<\/p>\n<p>Here is how Cameron has fared against current Padres:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-article_inline lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cameron-pads.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9967978\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Padres\u2019 odds of turning this season around are getting longer by the day. After dropping the first&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-404457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}