Miami Marlins at San Diego Padres: Three Stories To Watch

Watching The Ball Go Boom 

In case you missed it, Giancarlo Stanton hit many, many homers last July at Petco Park. The defending Home Run Derby champion returns to San Diego looking to produce more Statcast fodder. They may as well change it to Stantoncast. Something Stanton has historically been extremely proficient at doing at any ballpark along the Western seaboard.

Stanton started the season with a bit of a cold streak, but has since turned that around and crushed four long balls on the year. Second only to Marcell Ozuna for the team lead.

Throw those two track records together, and Marlins fans will be expecting plenty of fireworks.

However, it’s not just Stanton that warrants watching for power production in this series. While the Padres might well be one of the worst hitting teams in baseball so far this year.

They do sit squarely in the Top 10 in terms of total HRs. Considering the extent to which the long ball has hurt the Marlins pitching staff, reining in that tendency to allow the big fly will be just as key to victory. Mixing the ability for the Padres to smack homers and the Marlins pitchers inability to place the ball, may be a cause for concern.