Detroit Tigers have opportunity on West Coast road trip

Breaking down the San Diego Padres

Following the four games in Seattle, the Tigers will head south to San Diego to do battle with the Padres of the National League West.

While the Tigers and Mariners are in a position to turn things around, the Padres might not be.

The rebuilding National League West club is 28-42 with a Major-League worst -113 run differential.

Yangervis Solarte, Franchy Cordero and Austin Hedges are the only Padres position players with WAR stats north of 0.5, with Solarte pacing the group with a 0.8 number.

By comparison, the Tigers have seven position players with a WAR above 0.5.

San Diego’s rotation currently includes Jhoulys Chacin, Clayton Richard, Luis Perdomo and rookies Dinelson Lamet and Miguel Diaz.

The team is currently without the likes of Trevor Cahill, Jered Weaver, Christian Friedrich, Jarred Cosart and Robbie Erlin.

On the pitching side of things, Richard (1.4 WAR) and Chacin (0.8) have been the highest ranking players in terms of WAR among healthy San Diego arms.

Richard has been dependable with a 3.86 FIP, but Chacin’s FIP sits at 4.53.

Pitching-wise, Detroit’s top two starters in terms of WAR, Michael Fulmer (2.4 WAR) and Daniel Norris (1.2) significantly outperform the Padres’ top two healthy arms.

Next: Buck Farmer and his growing list of problems

With some favorable matchups, the Detroit Tigers have a chance to turn things around. They clearly have the talent, they just need to start playing better.