The Padres carry eight straight wins into Anaheim on Tuesday night, and they bring the second-most victories in baseball with them. The Los Angeles Angels, meanwhile, open the series at 10-10 and third in the AL West, a half-game behind the Rangers.
That makes this a fast-moving early-season test for both clubs, but especially for the Angels, who have not reached the postseason since 2014. San Diego also has recent history on its side: the Padres took two of three from the Angels in San Diego last year.
José Soriano gets the ball for Los Angeles, and he has been one of the best starters in the sport so far. He is 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA, has struck out 31 and walked nine in 27 innings, and leads the majors with a 0.667 WHIP. Soriano has worked at least six innings in all four of his starts, and he owns a 1.29 ERA in 14 career innings against the Padres.
The matchup on the other side is less settled. Matt Waldron is back after throwing 12 scoreless innings across three rehab starts, striking out 12 and walking one, and he enters with a 4.86 ERA in 192⅔ major league innings. Waldron also faced the Angels in 2024, when he struck out four over 6⅓ innings of one-run ball in a no-decision.
There is still real pressure on the Angels to keep pace after a week that included a split of a four-game series in the Bronx. Mike Trout homered five times in that series, and he has 13 RBIs over his last seven games. Oswald Peraza has three home runs over his last six games, while Nolan Schanuel has a.410 OPS over the last week, a reminder that Los Angeles has not yet found steady production across the lineup.
On the mound, Brent Suter leads Angels relievers with 15 strikeouts in 15 innings, and Chase Silseth leads the club with 10 appearances. The Padres, though, have the cleaner recent form and a rotation edge that has helped them stay within 1½ games of the Dodgers. San Diego’s current run has them looking like a club that expects to keep climbing, while Anaheim is still trying to turn a respectable start into something that lasts.