Coming into the 2025 season, many expected Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease to be a great one-two punch for the San Diego Padres. However, that dream would become a fantasy after Darvish was placed on the 15-day IL before the regular season even started.
The hard-throwing righty was dealing with inflammation in his right elbow, which ended up costing him three months of the season. He was finally cleared in July and made his season debut on July 7.
For Cease, he has not been his typical self this season. While he has flashed dominance at times, he has been largely inconsistent, holding a 6-11 record with a 4.82 ERA.
Manager Mike Shildt recently spoke on the importance of putting his bullpen in the best spot down the stretch. To do this, he pointed to Cease and Darrvish, wanting them to go deeper into games, via Sports Illustrated's Aaron Coloma.
"I mean, we're going to get to a time where, yeah, we can go to the bullpen super early. But you're talking about Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease - guys that we have a lot of trust and confidence in," said Shildt."And the ability for those guys to go deeper is going to be important for the continued freshness of our bullpen."
The Padres' bullpen has been nails this season
Mike Shildt should be nothing but impressed with how his bullpen has handled itself this season. Going into Friday's matchups, San Diego's bullpen holds a 3.01 ERA.
That is the best bullpen ERA across Major League Baseball. Behind arms like Robert Suarez, Adrian Morejon, and Mason Miller, this bullpen is as stingy as it gets.