Major League Baseball

Xander Bogaerts shares frustration after Padres lose series to Nats: 'C'mon, man'

Updated Jun. 26, 2023 2:12 p.m. ET

The San Diego Padres' underwhelming 2023 season hit another low point on Sunday.

Viewed as one of the favorites to win the World Series entering the season, the Padres fell to 37-41 on Sunday after losing to the 30-47 Washington Nationals for the second game in a row.

As the season is roughly at its halfway point, frustration appears to be mounting in San Diego. Xander Bogaerts wasn't shy in sharing his disappointment with how the team's three-game series against the Nationals went.

"C'mon, man. We're playing the Nationals," Bogaerts told reporters. "… I don't think they have playoff aspirations. I mean, they obviously have a young team and they fight. They do fight. But I wouldn't say anyone picked the Nationals to be in the playoffs. So you have to beat the teams that you have to beat."

Sunday's game was too familiar a story for the Padres so far this season. The Nationals went up 1-0 in the top of the first inning. While the Padres tied it up in the fifth, the Nationals scored seven straight runs over the sixth and seventh innings en route to an 8-3 win.

With Sunday's loss, the Padres are now 8-30 when their opponent scores first, 5-13 in one-run games, 3-31 when they trail after six innings and 4-34 when they score three or fewer runs. They also lost 2-0 to the Nationals on Saturday.

Bogaerts doesn't believe the team has a lack of fight, saying "I don’t even feel any of that." But he thinks his team might be "maybe trying to do too much" as he senses the team enters a bit of panic mode whenever they trail early in the game.

"It just feels like whenever someone else scores first, it’s like, ‘Oh, s---, trouble.’ You know? That type of feeling," Bogaerts said. "And it shouldn’t be that way, especially what we’ve done the last two or three days — obviously not the shutout [Saturday] but the days prior to that."

The Padres have remained in fourth place in the NL West for much of the season, sitting 9.5 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the division and 6.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the final wild-card spot, a far cry from where many thought they would be at the start of the season.

The signing of Bogaerts was a big reason why many thought the Padres would take a step forward in 2023. The four-time All-Star shortstop received an 11-year, $280 million contract to sign with San Diego over the offseason.

But Bogaerts hasn't lived up to the contract recently. After hitting over .300 with six home runs in March and April, Bogaerts' production has plummeted. He's hitting just .221 with two home runs, 14 RBIs and a .614 OPS since the start of May.

As the first half of the season nears its end, Bogaerts hoped the Padres could win 10 of their final 15 games prior to the All-Star break. San Diego has already lost two games at the start of the 15-game stretch though and two of its four remaining series prior to the break are against teams with winning records (Reds and Angels).

Still, Bogaerts has confidence the Padres can close out the first half strong and set themselves up for a playoff push following the All-Star break. But he also knows that if the Padres are going to have a turnaround, it has to happen sooner rather than later.

"You know what, it’s not how you start. It’s how you finish," Bogaerts said. "So we still have a chance to turn that around and … end on a really strong note.

"But we have to start. We have to. There’s not a lot of tomorrows left, you know. The season is coming to an end — I mean, not soon, but it is. If we keep tacking on losses, it’s gonna come by quick."

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