San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres 10/5/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The San Diego Padres host the San Francisco Giants for the last game of the 2022 regular season Oct. 5. This game had the potential to be meaningful, but the Padres have already clinched a playoff spot and the Giants fell out of contention earlier this week.

No starting pitchers had been named for the game prior to Tuesday’s game. San Francisco’s Alex Cobb was scheduled to face San Diego’s Yu Darvish, but neither will go now that the game has no playoff ramifications.

The Giants were a team of streaks down the stretch. They lost 11 of 13 from Aug. 17-31, then won four in a row to start September before losing five straight and then winning another three. After losing four of the next five games, they were 69-77 on Sept. 18 and appeared out of the playoff race.

San Francisco would turn things around, however, going 10-1 from Sept. 19-30 to nearly slip into a wild card position. Two teams out of San Diego, Philadelphia and Milwaukee would need to fold for the Giants to get in, and that prove to be too much to hope for. The Padres and Phillies ended up claiming the spots just ahead of Milwaukee and San Francisco ended up seven out entering Tuesday night.

Manny Machado led the Padres in most offensive categories with two games remaining. He has hit .294 with a .364 on-base percentage. Machado has scored 99 runs and driven in 101 with 32 home runs.

Joc Pederson is among the leaders in most categories for the Giants, but has almost exclusively faced right-handed pitching and doesn’t have enough at bats to meet the MLB minimum. In 379 at bats, he has 104 hits, 19 doubles, three triples, 23 home runs, 57 runs scored and 70 RBI. Mike Yastrzemski has closed out the season well and leads the Giants with 77 runs scored. Thairo Estrada is tops with 126 hits.