With less than two weeks remaining in the 2026 Major League Baseball season, the San Diego Padres have firm control of the third and final National League Wild Card postseason position.
The magic number is nine, and with a little luck, they can clinch a playoff berth against division foe, the Arizona Diamondbacks, at Petco Park next weekend. Any combination of Friars wins and Diamondbacks losses totaling nine allows the Brown & Gold to pop some champagne and celebrate.
2026 regular season has been a grind
That’s all well and good; the
path to the postseason has been a grind. The season has been a Jekyll and Hyde campaign: the bats went silent early on, and so did the team’s ability to win games.
The Friar Faithful criticized the club for failing to take advantage of lesser teams on the schedule. It seemed like the Padres were playing down to their opponents.
Once the lineup found consistency at the plate and the starting rotation came together to produce quality starts, the wins have come in bunches. All of it has helped to maintain a 2.5-game lead over the D-Backs in the Wild Card standings.
Wild Card standings wide open
The two teams will meet in the final regular-season series at Petco Park on Sept. 25-27. No need to analyze the series, as the Friars can make it meaningless by continuing to win. The magic number dwindles; the D-Backs will lose ground to make up the deficit, as games are removed from the schedule.
At worst, Arizona wants to be trailing by three games heading to San Diego.
The Padres will likely open on the road against the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card round. However, the club is narrowing the gap on the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs in the standings.
Both teams are struggling to play .500 baseball, keeping the Friars in the hunt to gain ground in the Wild Card race. Because San Diego lost the season series to the Phillies and Cubs, they don’t hold the tiebreaker and must finish ahead of both teams in the standings to advance.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, the Padres must first clinch a postseason berth.
