Despite the much anticipated season, our San Diego Padres have had a rough go thus far. This has raised many questions: What has been the problem this year? With a stacked lineup to include Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Croenenworth, Juan Soto, recently acquired Xander Bogaerts, and even star pitchers such as Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, and Josh Hader, why have they not won more games? Having a $274.8 million competitive balance tax payroll, the Padres have still held a 19-19 record.

Here are my keys to success for the Padres for the rest of the season in order to bring home their first ever World Series:

The pitching staff needs to figure it out. As of now, pitching has been the main struggle for the Padres. However, In the last 9 games, the Padres starters have had a 2.37 ERA, with 7 quality starts going 5-4 in that span. The Padres also lead the league with a 1.68 ERA as a staff. So, this being said, the Padres must stay consistent. Michael Wacha has certainly stepped up this year with a 3-1 record with 30 strikeouts through 7 games. Though it is just the beginning of the season, Darvish and Musgrove have been underperforming to fans’ standards after their big deals. Prior to the season, there were well-known issues with pitching depth. There are some uncertainties in the center of the bullpen and the back of the rotation, and several important relievers aren’t available because of their recent workloads. Brent Honeywell, a rookie, received the Thursday predicament with the most leverage. Only two of the five hitters he faced were retired, and he was given the loss. The Padres are going to have to figure it out before it gets too late, or start working to pull in some pitchers from elsewhere before the late season.

Following Thursday’s loss to Milwaukee, manager Bob Melvin stated “We have guys that can perform better,” pushing at his players that he thinks are not putting in as much effort as they should be. In the Padres last 4 losses, they have had the lead in the seventh inning or later in 3 of those. Melvin also stated that “It’s still early” is no longer an excuse for our padres, and if we’re going to figure out our troubles, it simply has to be now.

Aside from pitching, the Padres are going to have to hit. Simple as that. Machado and Tatis have certainly stepped up, batting .250 and .280. Soto has not lived up to his star standards this year as a whole, 37 strikeouts on 133 at bats. The padres must also realize that the Nola experiment needs to come to an end. He simply cannot hit. Batting well under Mendoza at .152, it’s about time we start looking for a decent catcher who can hit the ball.