A Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher called Manny Machado one of MLB's best players after facing him in their first series in 2025.

Manny Machado is blooming through the start of June, pairing four homers with a .378/.408/.667 batting line through the first 11 games this month. The rest of the Padres? Rather gloomy heading into Friday’s 6:40 p.

A little more than three years have passed since Miguel Cabrera, an all-fields slugger Machado studied closely, became the 33rd and most recent player to enter the 3,000-hit club. Freeman and Altuve, with perhaps a handful more seasons, could approach elite territory around their 40th birthdays — an age that tends to bring plummeting effectiveness.