The past seven days have been highly successful for the San Diego Padres organization.
After giving starter Casey Mize a chance to show he was healthy enough to participate in the postseason, the Padres placed the right-hander on the injured list after he surrendered seven hits and seven runs in four innings in the 11-4 loss on Sept. 25, to the Diamondbacks.
Walker Buehler started Game 2, which the Padres won 10-7 to clinch home-field advantage for the Wild Card round of the NL playoffs. Buehler was
not particularly sharp, but the Padres eeked out the win despite a rare hiccup by Mason Miller, pitching in a non-save situation to finish the game.
In a game that meant nothing in the playoff picture, Rándy Vásquez went six strong innings to lead the Friars to another win. He combined with Griffin Canning to finish off the D-backs and give the bullpen two full days of rest before their homestand against the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card series.
A fairytale series
It couldn’t have gone any better for the Padres against the Cubs. Rookie manager Craig Stammen had the least stress-inducing playoff series any manager could have.
After naming a playoff roster that surprised many by including both Joe Musgrove and Gavin Sheets, Stammen used both of those Padres in two dominant performances versus Chicago.
Musgrove, who had spent almost two years on the IL, pitched in the ninth inning of the first game, finishing off the Cubs for the first win.
Stammen was given the softest landing ever imaginable for both himself and Musgrove.
Sheets, who spent most of the past month in a boot for a plantar fascia tear in his left foot, was activated at the end of the season and played in two games versus the D-backs. After showing he was able to perform in those games, Sheets provided the pitching staff with some breathing room in the second game, blasting a 101 mph fastball 394 feet into the right-field stands.
The Padres pitching staff held the best offense in the National League to one run on eight hits in the two games. The two best hitters on their roster, NL MVP-to-be Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman, went 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts against the Padres dominant pitching staff.
Meanwhile, Fernando Tatis Jr. put on a show in the first game with a leadoff home run while also scoring from first on a stolen base and a throwing error in his last at-bat.
Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts turned their worst professional seasons around by going 7-for-15 with two homers, two doubles and four RBI combined in the two games.
Second-half momentum carries on
The Friars had a 50-53 record before their second-half surge. After struggling offensively for much of May, June, and July, the Padres went on a 43-18 tear to end the season. They carried that over into the series against the Cubs.
With home-field attendance that topped 47,000 for both games, the Padres had a vocal and raucous crowd behind them that served as their 10th man in snuffing out the Cubs.
The stars were stars
The Padres’ top four earners are Machado, Tatis Jr., Bogaerts and Musgrove. For the first time in two years, all four played for the Friars during the Cubs series. Although limited to one inning of work, Musgrove was able to contribute to a win. All the others played the way we would expect them to play in the postseason.
NBC scores a win
Including Musgrove in their plans for the postseason gave the team and their fans a huge emotional lift. Even the decision-makers at NBC acknowledged the importance of Musgrove’s inclusion.
Rather than cut away at the end of the eighth inning, NBC bypassed its lucrative commercial break and showed Musgrove’s entrance from the bullpen. As the left-field crowd rose and began cheering, Musgrove stepped through the bullpen gate and set foot on the Petco Park field for the first time since October 2, 2024.
The ensuing spread of cheers through the park and Musgrove’s entrance was covered live for the TV audience. It was a brilliant moment for San Diego.
Postseason ambition
After reaching the postseason for a record third consecutive season, the Padres have also reached at least 90 wins for the third straight season. In an unprecedented era of success for the organization, new Padres owner Jose E. Feliciano paid tribute to late owner Peter Seidler with his attire for the second game versus the Cubs.
With their official ownership of the team now almost two months in, Feliciano and Kwanza Jones are enjoying the first fruits of their investment in the Padres. Attending the season-ending games in San Diego and the playoff games versus the Cubs, Jones and Feliciano have shown their support, and Jones’ dancing skills, on the field and in the locker room.
On to Milwaukee to play the Division Series against the team with the best record in baseball. In a best-of-five series, the Friars take on hard-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski in Game 1. After two in Milwaukee, the Padres return home for Tuesday and Wednesday games at Petco Park.
There is little doubt that home-field advantage will be in full force at Petco. The magic of the Cubs series could carry over into a series win at home against the Brewers.
The baseball gods could be shining on San Diego.
Why not the Padres? Why not us?
