The lineups tell a similar story of teams missing pieces. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is playing through back tightness and having, by a wide margin, the worst offensive season of his career — a .693 OPS a year into his 14-year extension. Manny Machado is day-to-day for the Padres after fouling a ball off his foot, though X-rays came back clean. Both teams are shorthanded, but San Diego's absences skew more toward the bullpen than the middle of the order.
What's actually working for Toronto right now is its pitching depth outside the rotation gaps — Dylan Cease no-hit San Francisco into the ninth inning last Wednesday, a reminder the Jays still have frontline stuff even while the win-loss record says otherwise. The offense also woke up in a hurry against the Giants, with a grand slam from Kazuma Okamoto keying that 10-run outburst. Whether that carries over to Petco Park, a notoriously tough hitter's environment, is the real question.
San Diego's version of good health is relative. Randy Vasquez, Freddy Fermin and Samad Taylor are all out, and the bullpen has taken the bigger hit — Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada and Matt Waldron are all working their way back from injury, which puts more pressure on whoever's left to hold late leads. Still, the Padres have been the better team at home lately, and getting Marquez back and effective changes the math on a rotation that's already absorbed the loss of Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta and Yu Darvish for the year.
Add it up and this reads like a coin-flip series game between two clubs still trying to figure out who they are in the second half. Toronto's found some life at the plate the last two games; San Diego's found a little stability on the mound. Sunday in San Diego should settle at least one round of that argument.