Are the San Diego Padres a Legitimate World Series Threat?

With the San Diego Padres already having locked up one of the three Wild Card positions in the National League, is there value in their World Series odds?

After being the most active team at the MLB trade deadline and swinging for the fences, the Padres have yet to come to terms with their newfound expectations and have largely disappointed since the All-Star break. Still, is there enough talent on this team to make bettors look towards them in the futures market? 

Acquiring Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and Josh Hader and the trade deadline was a move that many thought would pay off, but that hasn’t been the case so far, especially when you consider what the team gave up for all three players. The biggest disappointment of the three has likely been Soto, who has tallied an OPS under .750 over the last month. That won’t be good enough for the Padres if they have World Series aspirations, but the question arises, what if this team captures lightning in a bottle and gets hot at the right time of the year?

The National League playoff bracket has the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, and St. Louis Cardinals entering the postseason with more wins than the Padres. With the makeup of their roster, it’s likely the Padres underachieved in the second half of the regular season, but do they have what it takes to get over the playoff hump and beat some of these top-end teams? 

LA might be the Padres’ kryptonite, knowing how much the Friars have struggled against them over the last three seasons. During that sample, the Dodgers have dominated, posting a 35-16 record against San Diego. Of course, anything can happen in a playoff series, but it feels unlikely that the Padres would survive a postseason matchup against the Dodgers, so they’d need to avoid them in the bracket. If the Padres continue as the fifth seed in the National League and win their Wild Card round matchup, they’d be tasked with going toe-to-toe with the Dodgers in the divisional round for a five-game set. That doesn’t bode well heading into the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t investigate how their odds shape up in the National League or for the World Series. 

The Padres sit in a tie at +1300 with the Philadelphia Phillies for the longest odds to win the National League pennant. Regarding their World Series outlook, the team also sits in a tie with three other teams for the longest odds to capture the trophy at +3000. With the amount of talent on this roster, it’s hard to say that those prices aren’t worth at least a sprinkle.

Are the Padres a legitimate threat to win the pennant or World Series? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some value attached to their current odds. If they can ever find their ceiling, look out.