The San Diego Padres are heading into the National League Division Series with plenty of momentum and no shortage of belief after sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card round.
Now the challenge gets bigger. San Diego moves on to face the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-five series, and the Padres will do it as underdogs. Even so, Manny Machado isn’t interested in treating this like a finish line.
“We’re not done,” Machado said in the postgame locker room celebration. “We’re not done. We’re gonna continue to fight … to bring a championship to the city of San Diego.”
Machado doubled down on that message after the sweep, pointing to the way the Padres have been rolling. “Man, we've been playing some really good baseball,” Machado said. “Hopefully we can keep doing that.”
The Cubs came in leading the majors in runs, but the Padres smothered them from start to finish. Chicago managed just one run in 18 innings and finished the series with only eight hits. San Diego’s pitching set the tone, and the home crowd watched it unfold over two convincing wins.
Michael King opened the series with seven scoreless innings in Game 1, giving the Padres exactly the kind of start they needed. On Wednesday night, Nick Pivetta and the bullpen took over and kept the pressure on.
Manager Craig Stammen pointed to that depth on the mound as a major reason for confidence moving forward. “We do have a strong bullpen, and even the guys we haven't used are very good pitchers also,” Stammen said. “That's going to be the strength of our team as we go through the postseason.”
The Brewers present a different level of difficulty. Milwaukee owns the best record in baseball and brings in what is likely NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski, who would be in line for two starts if the series goes the distance.
Still, the Padres are carrying themselves like a team that expects to keep playing deep into October. Jackson Merrill said the mood inside the clubhouse reflects that edge.
“Momentum’s the biggest thing in baseball,” Merrill said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a regular-season game or a postseason game.
Momentum is everything. We know they’re a good baseball team.
They play the game to win.
“But you know what? We’re a pretty good baseball team, too.”
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For a Padres team with its own October path still in view, the ripple effects are hard to miss. MLB has floated two possible start times for Braves-Phillies, 2:15 p.m. ET or 8:15 p.m. ET, and the winner will move on to face the Dodgers in the NL Division Round beginning Oct. 3. Until the other playoff results settle the schedule, the league has left one of the most important games on the board hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Owners Already Face A Harsh Test In San Diego
Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones arrived with the kind of ambition Padres fans want to hear, making clear that their goal is a World Series title. The timing is encouraging, too, with San Diego fresh off a wild-card sweep of the Cubs and carrying one of the more energized home crowds in the sport after topping 3 million fans in the 2023 regular season.
Still, the job in front of the new ownership group is not only about sustaining momentum on the field. An anonymous general manager has already raised concerns about the financial strain created by the clubs big payroll commitments to key players, which adds an immediate layer of pressure to the transition. Feliciano has framed those obligations as opportunities, but how the Padres balance that view against the realities of the market may become one of the first defining tests of the new era. [Read more 🡒]