CONFIRMED: Padres Manager Has Confirmed and Officially Announced Yu Darvish’s Season Debut Date For Padres

The San Diego Padres have managed to stay in the National League playoff race despite missing one of their top pitchers for the majority of the season, but he is now returning. Yu Darvish is close to returning after missing the first couple months of the season with an elbow ailment.

Fortunately for the Padres, there was no major elbow injury, but the team chose to be careful with its ace. Now he’s ready to return to the mound. According to ESPN, Darvish will make his season debut on Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home.

The Padres have been contemplating when to bring Darvish back to the mound, and he is finally healthy enough to do it. Manager Mike Shildt stated that San Diego had been preparing for this for several days.

“It really just comes down to a physical standpoint,” Shildt explained Sunday night. “We always have an open day on the schedule for Yu Darvish to start.”

The 38-year-old also missed time during the 2024 season due to an elbow injury and has been out since spring training with what was diagnosed as right elbow inflammation.

Darvish is in his sixth season in San Diego, having put up impressive numbers in just 16 starts last year. He finished with a 7-3 record and a 3.31 ERA, demonstrating that he still has some of baseball’s top stuff when healthy and rolling.

The Padres have fallen behind in the NL East battle, with the Los Angeles Dodgers now leading the division by seven games. However, San Diego will need all hands on deck to keep up in a highly competitive NL Wild Card race, where it now holds the final place. However, with so many teams following the Padres, Darvish’s addition to the rotation could provide them an advantage.

The Japanese star will also be an important part of the Padres’ potential postseason run, particularly given his outstanding performance against the Dodgers last season in October. He started two games for San Diego in their five-game NLDS loss, pitching 13.2 innings and allowing only three earned runs.