The San Diego Padres are down to a 19-game dash, and the real question now is whether they’ve got a finishing kick.
They enter tonight’s matchup with the Washington Nationals a half-game behind the third wild card spot in the NL, and for weeks they’ve been trading places with the Arizona Diamondbacks. That’s been the story of their season in miniature: a team hanging around, refusing to go away, but never quite separating itself either.
It hasn’t been a smooth ride. The Padres were expected to be a .500 club because of a thin rotation and some aging veterans, and at times they’ve looked exactly like that. Still, they’re here, and now the stretch run is forcing the issue.
“It’s just a long season,” said outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. in a piece written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic. “It’s a marathon.
If you start good, you better hold your body to be sustainable the rest of the year. If not, you figure out how to be good after that.”
There have been flashes that suggest San Diego can push through this final month. There have also been stretches, like last week’s road trip, that made them look nothing like a playoff team. That volatility is why this next run matters so much.
One encouraging sign has been catcher Luis Campusano. He’s been putting together a quietly strong season while operating in the shadow of Tatis, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill. He rescued the Padres in extra innings against the New York Yankees on Friday night, then went deep again in Sunday’s win.
The Yankees series, the Padres hope, showed what this group can do when the pressure rises. Michael King said the opponent helped sharpen the edge.
“Coming in against an AL team that has a very good chance to be the AL champion, I think that we definitely put a little bit more pressure on ourselves to make sure that we’re going to continue to compete,” said King, who pitched six scoreless innings to record a career record sixth consecutive quality start, per Lin. “I knew that coming into the series we were outside looking in, and it’d be nice to separate ourselves and give us a little room to work with.”
That room is still there, but only briefly. Nick Pivetta helped restore it last night against the Washington Nationals, returning from an extended stint on the IL and turning in a surprisingly strong start.
Now the path is clear: the Nationals this week, then the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies after that. The schedule gives San Diego a chance to make a move. Whether the Padres can actually take advantage of it is the question that will define the homestretch.
In Other News...
Dodgers Just Lost Their Biggest Threat At The Worst Time
Shohei Ohtani is suddenly out of the Dodgers lineup at a time when every game in the division matters, and the move gives San Diego one fewer nightly worry as the stretch run tightens. Los Angeles placed Ohtani on the 15-day injured list because of injuries to his left knee, right biceps and neck, and manager Dave Roberts said the club waited as long as it could before making the call.
For the Padres, the timing matters as much as the name. Ohtani will be ineligible to play until at least Sept. 23, and he will not pitch again this season, which changes the shape of the Dodgers roster and the pressure around this race. Even with Los Angeles still deep enough to threaten, San Diego can now lean into a division chase that looks a little different without one of baseballs biggest difference-makers looming over every series. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Suddenly Have A Real Ethan Salas Postseason Decision
Ethan Salas has barely had a chance to settle into the majors, but the possibility of him showing up on a postseason roster is now part of the conversation in San Diego. Padres manager Craig Stammen opened the door to that idea as the club tries to hold onto a narrow lead for the final wild-card spot, a reminder of how quickly September can turn a developmental moment into a real roster question.
Salas has appeared in five games since his MLB debut and is still looking for his first hit, yet his name is suddenly attached to a decision with October stakes. For the Padres, it is one of those choices that says as much about the moment as it does about the player, with the club balancing urgency now against what Salas might mean down the road. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Roster Shuffle Just Cost One Recent Debut Player His Spot
Blake Hunts brief run on the Padres roster has come to an end, with the club releasing the catcher after he cleared waivers following his designation for assignment. Hunt, who made his big league debut with San Diego this season, had only limited major league exposure and spent most of his time working in the minors.
The move clears room for Nick Pivetta, who was activated from the injured list and gives the Padres another arm back in the mix as they sort through the roster. For Hunt, it leaves his next step uncertain after a season that offered a first taste of the majors but not much runway to build on it. [Read more 🡒]