Monday was a great night for Manny Machado and a bad night for the San Diego Padres. The Padres lost to the NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks (ARI 6, SD 3), their 18th loss in their last 31 games, and it pushed them out of postseason position. San Diego is now a game behind the San Francisco Giants for the third wild-card spot (with plenty of season to play).
Machado went 3 for 5 with a home run in Monday’s loss and his fourth-inning single was his 2,000th career hit. He already has more games played (899 to 860) and home runs (182 to 162) with the Padres than he did with the Baltimore Orioles. Soon he’ll have more hits as well (977 to 951). Here is Machado’s 2,000th hit:
Machado’s 2,001 career hits put him fifth on the active leaderboard behind Freddie Freeman (2,358), Jose Altuve (2,323), Andrew McCutchen (2,226), and Paul Goldschmidt (2,145). Nolan Arenado is likely to be the next player to join the 2,000-hit club. He enters play Tuesday with 1,901 career knocks. Getting there before the end of 2025 will be a challenge, but not impossible.
This is Machado’s age-32 season and he is in elite company when it comes to hits and homers. He is one of only 12 players all-time with 2,000 hits and 350 homers through age 32, and he still has another two months and change to play.
Among those 12? Eight Hall of Famers, two guys who will be first-ballot Hall of Famers as soon as they’re eligible, one player with Hall of Fame credentials but who is not in Cooperstown because of performance-enhancing drug use, and Machado. That is some company.
Machado, who turned 33 this past Sunday, stands as good a chance as any active player to reach 3,000 hits. He is under contract through 2033 and has another 72 team games ahead of him this season. Machado needs 999 hits in essentially 8.44 seasons, or 118 hits per season. A reasonable total even after you bake in the age-related decline that comes for us all.
For what it’s worth, Machado has been one of the game’s great ironmen. He’s played 150 games in every non-pandemic season since 2015 except 2023, when he got hit by a pitch and broke a bone in his hand, limiting him to 138 games. Durability plus a long-term contract plus the universal DH plus 2,000 hits through age 32 is a pretty good head start on the chase for 3,000 hits.
Machado is hitting .293/.354/.484 with 21 doubles and 15 home runs this season. Add in his still excellent third base defense and he’s a 2.8 WAR player. He recently eclipsed 60 WAR for his career, and 60 WAR is more or less when a player becomes a serious Hall of Fame candidate. Machado still has a lot of career ahead of him too.
