Manny Machado made one of the Padres’ biggest decisions of Game 4 in the National League Division Series, and by the end of the night, he was wishing he had handled it differently.
It happened in the bottom of the first inning, with Jackson Merrill on first base and one out. Facing Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Robert Gasser, Machado dropped down a bunt on the first pitch he saw. The play worked exactly as designed: Machado beat it out for a bunt single, then turned toward the home dugout and celebrated, trying to spark the crowd and the Padres in what looked like an early chance to seize control.
The move set San Diego up with two runners on and one out. Two batters later, after an Austin Hays walk, the Padres had the bases loaded with two outs for Xander Bogaerts. But they couldn’t cash it in.
Afterward, Machado didn’t hide his second thoughts.
“We were a hit away in that first inning,” Machado said to reporters in the clubhouse after the game. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bunted.
Maybe I should have swung and maybe hit a homer there. But just trying to get something going, and we just couldn’t get that big hit and they did.”
That bunt single, following a Merrill single, ended up accounting for 66.7% of the Padres’ hits in Game 4. Fernando Tatis Jr. later led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run to tie the game at one apiece, but that was it for San Diego’s offense.
From there, the Padres went ice-cold, finishing the night 0-for-21.
Machado nearly changed the story again in the bottom of the eighth. He thought he had launched a game-tying homer, only for Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell to run it down and take it away. That was as close as San Diego came to a comeback the rest of the way.
Machado still finished the series with strong numbers, going 4-for-13 (.308) with four walks and an OPS of .855. But the Padres’ lineup never found the timely hit it needed.
“You’re facing the best team in baseball,” Machado said after the game. “One of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball, if not the best.
You know, we had opportunities there and we just didn’t come up with the clutch hit. They did, and that’s just how the series turned around.”
Craig Stammen also singled out Machado for how he finished the season.
“The way Manny played this last month of baseball was pretty remarkable,” Stammen said. “That’s probably the best I’ve ever seen Manny Machado play, the way he was playing defense, running the bases, swinging the bat.
He was on another level. He was trying to carry us.”
At 34, Machado couldn’t drag the Padres into the next round, and now the club heads into another long offseason with plenty left to sort out.
In Other News...
Brewers Have A Late-Inning Edge That Could Rattle The Dodgers
If there is a place the Brewers can feel especially good heading into this matchup, it is the late innings. Milwaukees bullpen has spent most of the season giving Craig Counsells old club a way to shorten games, and the mix at the back end has been built around Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby. Megill, acquired after bouncing around to a few organizations, has settled into a role that fits his power fastball and sharper command, while Uribe has given the Brewers a hard-to-hit look with elite run prevention traits and a ground-ball profile that plays in October.
That matters now because the Dodgers are the kind of opponent that can make any lead feel fragile, and Milwaukees relief group has already shown it can carry real weight when the games tighten. The Brewers do not need their bullpen to be flashy so much as dependable, and in a series where one clean inning can change the tone, that edge could become one of the most important parts of the matchup. The only question is how far that advantage can stretch once the biggest spots arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Lost A Veteran Arm From Their Bullpen Depth Plan
The Braves bullpen depth chart took another hit this week with Ian Hamilton and Rob Zastryzny both electing minor league free agency. Hamiltons route back onto the market came after the Yankees non-tendered him and Atlanta brought him in on a non-guaranteed major league deal, but his time there never really got traction, with only limited work in the majors and at Triple-A before he was back on the move.
For Milwaukee, Zastryzny is the more familiar name, having previously pitched for the Brewers and a handful of other clubs as a left-handed depth option. His latest stretch never got much momentum either, as injury slowed him early and kept him from establishing a real role, leaving him to choose free agency rather than stay in the organization and wait for another opening. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Roster Philosophy Looks Smarter As Former Player Faces Wrong Fit
With the National League Championship Series rematch against the Dodgers on deck, the Brewers are once again looking like a club built with a clear identity. Milwaukee has long favored depth, flexibility and players who fit defined jobs over chasing the same kind of roster template everyone else is using, and that approach is part of why the team keeps showing up in October with a chance to make noise. It also makes former Brewers player Caleb Durbin an interesting measuring stick, because his game still speaks to the values Milwaukee tends to prize.
Durbin is the kind of contact-first, small-ball player who can help a lineup in the right setting, but he is not built around forcing the ball over the wall. Now he is in a different environment, where the discussion is less about leaning into what he does well and more about asking him to cover for other problems around him. For Milwaukee, it is another reminder that roster fit matters as much as raw talent, and that the Brewers way of doing business can look pretty sharp when contrasted with a club trying to make a mismatched piece serve a different purpose. [Read more 🡒]