The Padres have been rolling at exactly the right time, and Saturday night in Milwaukee looked like the kind of moment that can tilt a postseason series.
San Diego came in fresh off a sweep of the Chicago Cubs, a stretch that had the club playing with confidence and celebration to match. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez described the scene this way: “For the second time in six days, they sprayed beer, popped champagne and danced to deafening reggaeton beats, commemorating another triumph.
By this point, many of the San Diego Padres players have carved out their roles. Manny Machado douses, Fernando Tatis Jr. dances, and Walker Buehler holds the funnel.
With each one, the party becomes more boisterous, the celebration extends a little longer, befitting a team in continual ascension,”
That momentum ran into a brutal break in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Brewers. In the top of the ninth, Ty France launched what looked like a go-ahead home run, one that would have put San Diego in front 4-3.
Instead, the ball hit the roof and stayed in play, and Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio caught it near the warning track. The umpires ruled it an out.
Dodgers writer Doug McKain reacted by calling San Diego a cursed franchise. “The Padres might really be a cursed franchise. This ball is going out, and the Padres would've taken a 4-3 lead in the 9th,” McKain posted.
The call was painful for the Padres, but it matched MLB ground rules. USA Today’s Jesse Yomtov noted, “Under the stadium's ground rules, a "batted ball striking roof, roof truss or roof cable over fair territory" is considered in play. The San Diego Padres challenged the call on the field but the ground rules are explicit and the Milwaukee Brewers caught a massive break from their home ballpark to stay in the lead,”
San Diego came out on the wrong end of a ruling that felt devastating in the moment, and it left the club facing an ugly Game 1 loss. The Padres now turn to Sunday with a chance to even the series, and they’ll be hoping the rest of this matchup doesn’t come down to the roof again.
In Other News...
Dodgers Let NLDS Control Slip Away After Another Offensive Letdown
Blake Snells afternoon never found a rhythm, and the Dodgers could not do enough offensively to take advantage of the opening it created. Los Angeles dropped a 3-2 decision to the Braves in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, a result that evened the series at one game apiece and left the Dodgers searching for the timely hit that has been missing too often in October.
Snell issued a season-high five walks, and the game turned on a chaotic stretch that included a wild pitch from Braves reliever Kris Bubic before Atlanta grabbed the go-ahead run. Freddie Freeman also came through for the Braves with a home run, his first since Sept. 2, adding another swing that helped flip the momentum and leave the Dodgers with a split instead of control. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Face A Lineup Decision That Could Test Braves In Game 3
After getting bottled up by the Braves in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers are staring at a familiar October problem: how to jolt an offense that went quiet when it needed to answer back. Atlanta leaned on multiple pitchers to keep Los Angeles in check, and now Dave Roberts is weighing a lineup tweak for Game 3 as the series shifts into a more urgent phase for a team trying to avoid elimination.
The concern centers on center fielder Andy Pages, whose postseason struggles have become hard to ignore, and that has opened the door for Enrique Hernandez to potentially step in and give the lineup a different look. Hernandez has earned a reputation as a reliable October bat, which is part of what makes this decision so interesting for the Dodgers, who need more than just better at-bats now - they need a spark that can change the feel of the series. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Suddenly Face A Real Andy Pages Lineup Dilemma
Andy Pages arrived at October with the kind of profile the Dodgers hoped would translate, but through two postseason games he has not found much traction. He has gone hitless in eight plate appearances, drawing one walk and striking out four times, and the swing-and-miss issues have stood out even more because they are so far above his regular-season norms. For a Dodgers lineup built to keep pressure on opposing pitching, that kind of drop-off from a regular contributor quickly becomes hard to ignore.
Dave Roberts has already made one adjustment by limiting Pages ability to challenge calls, a small but telling sign that the club is trying to manage both the player and the moment. If the struggles continue, the Dodgers do not appear short on alternatives, which only adds to the tension around Pages spot. In October, even a young hitter with legitimate upside can find himself one rough stretch away from a lineup debate. [Read more 🡒]