Look Ahead to 2021 Season: Padres

Stay classy, Slam Diego. Scratch that. Keep breaking the unwritten rules. It's exciting and refreshing for this traditional sport.

2020 Record: 37-23

With all the hype in the world, the Padres are the team of the future. The problem is that the team of the present and future just so happens to be sitting in front of them on the NL West pedestal. Even with that being said, San Diego can still challenge the Dodgers for the best record, and they're only getting better. Their rotation can go right up against LA's, and it's truly a blessing from the baseball Gods that we will get 19 matchups between these two powerhouses. Something tells me that if they met with the Dodgers in the playoffs again, they wouldn't go down as easy as in a sweep. As for their matchups with the rest of the NL, the Braves and Mets seem to be the only other threats to San Diego on paper.

Tier: 2 (World Series Contender)

It would be foolish to say that the Padres are the favorite in the National League, but they're about as close to the Dodgers as anyone else, so they sit one tier below the reigning champs. Baked into their favorability against most of MLB is their excitement, but the Padres aren't frontrunners. They have a great offense and a revamped rotation that has added aces Blake Snell and Yu Darvish to join an already formidable cast.