It’s taken a long time, but the Padres are finally the team we thought they were going to be. I’ll always point to that Thursday loss to the Braves — blowing a lead against Chris Sale — as the low point. Then they went to Miami, swept the Marlins, and everything we’d been worried about all year basically stopped being a problem.

Jackson Merrill is on fire, hitting .357 over his last seven games. Ty France doesn’t get talked about enough — 31st multi-hit game of the year in way less playing time than Merrill or Tatis. And Luis Campusano has the best average and OPS of any primary catcher in baseball right now. Completely different guy than last year.

Padres are in a wildcard spot, second behind the Cubs, six or seven weeks to go. There was a stretch this year I didn’t want to do this show because I didn’t want to be depressed about this team. Don’t have to worry about that right now. Things are fun again.