Padres slide in latest power rankings ahead of a grueling week

Padres slide in latest power rankings ahead of a grueling week originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

>Despite losing some big pieces over the offseason, the San Diego Padres have been playing well this season. They got off to a solid start, putting together an 18-7 stretch in April.

>They were able to keep things up in May, but lately, things have been a different story.

>The offense has been extremely cold, ranking last in team batting average, OBP, and slugging. That has led to a flood of losses, and now they only hold a .5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for second place in the NL East.

>MORE: Padres face big Mason Miller problem that might not have an easy fix

Padres slide in latest power rankings ahead of a grueling weekLast week was a tough one for an offense that has been struggling. They had two road series, one against the St. Louis Cardinals and then one against the Texas Rangers.

>Both teams have been playing well, and showed that against the Padres. The Cardinals took the series 2-1, and so did the Rangers, leading to a 2-4 week for San Diego.

>With this, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter has bumped the Padres down a few spots in his latest power rankings from No. 12 last week to No. 15.

>"The Padres spent much of the first two months of the season overperforming relative to what a patchwork rotation and a stagnant offense might have otherwise suggested, but things seem to be catching up to them now. They are 8-17 in their last 25 games with a minus-19 run differential, and things don't get any easier this week as the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers come to town."

>The Padres now have a real test coming this week. While they return home for two series, these series are against the Braves and Dodgers, the two best teams across MLB.

>If things keep going like they are going, it's going to be tough for this team to take any games from these two teams. These power rankings may look a lot worse next week if the Padres don't find some magic.

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