The San Diego Padres' 2016 season started off, well, terribly.
The eventual 68-94 Padres opened the season roughly 200 miles away from home, taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game set.
The results: 15-0 Dodgers, 3-0 Dodgers, 7-0 Dodgers. It was a clean sweep.
Manager Andy Green wants to make sure that the Padres are ready to rock this season, so he's taking team-building exercises to a whole new level. That's right, get your paddles out.
The @Padres host a massive, team-wide Ping-Pong tournament: https://t.co/cVUaRPpivc pic.twitter.com/ZhXkegEgnP
— Cut4 (@Cut4) February 21, 2017
Apparently, the Padres are locked into a 32-team ping-pong tournament that features one showdown per day. Believe it or not, the players reportedly love it.
Weaver bested Myers in the match, but the Padres players understand that the results of the tournament are not necessarily the key takeaway: team bonding takes precedent.
The Padres have their work cut out for them in a top-heavy NL West, but Green's preseason ping-pong tournaments could be the first step in building up San Diego's confidence.