If you thought the San Diego Padres’ 2026 rotation picture was going to be simple: spend big, replace the names everyone knows and call it a day — one national prediction just threw a wrench into that idea. With Dylan Cease and Michael King both gone and Yu Darvish out for the year, it’s easy to assume San Diego will chase the next shiny frontline arm. Instead, one MLB writer sees a very different path: a rotation built more on creativity and reinvention than on star power and name value.
In a recent Bleacher Report exercise projecting all 30 teams’ starting rotations for 2026, Joel Reuter worked his way through the league and eventually landed on a Padres five that looks nothing like the one fans watched at the start of 2025.