San Diego Padres infielder Manny Machado finished the 2018 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, after being traded by the Baltimore Orioles before last trade deadline. And he proceeded to stay in the NL West by signing a 10-year, $300 million deal with the Padres over the offseason.
Well, the Padres played the Dodgers on Thursday night in Los Angeles, and one Dodgers fan heckled Machado over his free-agency decision while the star stood on-deck.
The fan told Machado, “With that big of a contract, you’ve got 10 Octobers off now. 10 straight Octobers off.”
Not only did Machado reply to the fan, but he did so with a very bold statement: “I bet you my contract we’ll win a World Series before you guys do.”
Who is gonna take Manny Machado up on this one? 😳https://t.co/DSoMDI8XiP
— SI Sportsbook (@SI_Betting) July 5, 2019
The Padres are a team on the rise, but are probably on the outside looking when it comes to the 2019 NL Playoffs (granted, they’re still only 3.5 games out of the NL Wild Card with their 42-45 record). Still, this team is loaded with young talent — led by Fernando Tatis Jr., Chris Paddack, Machado, and a great farm system — and has a chance to get very good very quickly.
However, the Dodgers — 60-29; 14.5-game lead in the NL West — are the best team in baseball and World Series favorite. With incredible resources and tremendous young talent of their own, the Dodgers figure to be good-to-awesome for a long time themselves. Odds are, the Dodgers win a World Series before the Padres do, but then again the Dodgers have been one of the World Series favorites for a number of seasons and last won it all in 1988. You never know with the randomness of the postseason.
But- all of that is secondary to how hilarious the interaction is from Machado, and you have to appreciate his confidence.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.