The Padres will have to navigate a must-win Game 3 against the Brewers without Gavin Sheets in the starting lineup.
San Diego scratched Sheets because of a stiff neck, the team announced hours before first pitch. He had been penciled in to bat sixth, but Samad Taylor has taken his spot. Even with the late change, the Padres said Sheets will still be available off the bench, which points to an issue they believe is manageable.
The lineup tweak comes as the Padres return to home field for the third time in these playoffs and the first time in this series. Manager Craig Stammen said the atmosphere should matter in a game like this, especially with San Diego facing elimination.
"It definitely makes a little bit of difference," Stammen said. "You've got to be able to handle.
You've got to be tough to be able to handle a tough environment. The crowd noise is definitely a factor.
You've got to somehow be able to quiet your mind and execute the same way you have the entire season.
"It's also an adrenaline spike, and how everybody handles that adrenaline spike is a little bit different."
Nick Pivetta gets the ball for San Diego in the biggest start of the series. It will be his second outing of the postseason and only his sixth since returning from a right elbow flexor strain that kept him out for nearly five months.
Pivetta closed the regular season with a 2.86 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a 1.01 WHIP. In the postseason, the 33-year-old is 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 23 strikeouts across 22 innings.
Stammen said the Padres have been careful with Pivetta’s workload since he came back.
"I think with Nick specifically, him coming off the injury, we didn't build him up on rehab starts to be able to handle a full workload. It was kind of like hoping to build that workload as we went." Stammen said of what he expects out of Pivetta.
"From what we've seen from him, the shorter-burst outings he's done really well in, and we've seen his - maybe a slight drop-off, and we just want to get him out of the game before that drop-off happens, and I think especially in the playoffs. You'd rather take a pitcher out one batter too early than one batter too late."
In Other News...
Padres Face A Game 3 Problem Fans Will Hate
Nick Pivetta gives the Padres a familiar kind of October question heading into Game 3 against Milwaukee: can recent form outweigh a history that has not gone well in this matchup? Since coming back from the injured list, he has looked much sharper, but his track record against the Brewers has been hard to ignore, with trouble limiting walks and runs across his career starts against them.
For San Diego, the concern is less about what Pivetta has shown lately than whether the Brewers can lean on a matchup they have handled before. His numbers against Milwaukee include an ugly 8.76 ERA and a rough outing dating back to 2017, the kind of background that gives a postseason start a little extra weight, even before the first pitch is thrown. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Head Into Elimination Game With Mason Miller Under Real Scrutiny
Mason Millers sudden October wobble has become one of the sharper questions hanging over the Padres as they head into an elimination game against Milwaukee. After he blew the save in Game 2 by allowing two runs in the ninth inning, the focus shifted quickly from a single rough outing to the possibility that something more was going on, with reports suggesting he may have been tipping pitches.
Miller has denied knowingly doing it, and he has pointed to fatigue from a multi-inning save attempt as part of the explanation for his struggles. Either way, San Diego cannot afford much more uncertainty in the late innings, especially with its offense needing to do more to keep the season alive. [Read more 🡒]
Padres May Have Found An Outfield Answer At The Perfect Time
With the Padres facing an NLDS hole against the Brewers, every bit of lineup clarity matters, and Dustin Harris has given them something they can at least build around. After bouncing among multiple teams in 2026 before landing in San Diego, Harris has settled in quickly enough to look like more than a short-term fix, which is no small thing for a club trying to keep its roster competitive now while planning beyond October.
Harris is under club control through the 2031 season, so this is not just about one hot stretch or one October series. The real question is how firmly he can lock down left field, a competition that is expected to carry into spring training, and whether the Padres have stumbled onto a long-term answer at exactly the moment they need stability the most. [Read more 🡒]