The Padres caught a break before first pitch, and by the time the day was done, they had something concrete to show for it: no worse than the fifth seed in the National League wild-card race.
San Diego’s climb came together through a mix of help from the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays and the weather, with Chicago taking the biggest hit. The Cubs’ doubleheader losses to Boston locked the Padres into at least the No. 5 spot in the wild-card standings, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay added another opening for San Diego.
Chicago’s rough afternoon began with a 4-3 loss in which the Cubs built a 3-0 lead and then watched it disappear. They scored once in the first inning and added two more in the second against Boston opener Alec Gamboa, but the Red Sox answered with a run in the third and two more in the fifth to pull even at 3-3.
Boston finally pushed ahead in the seventh on Connor Wong’s RBI double, and the Red Sox bullpen handled the rest. Three relievers combined to blank Chicago over the final seven innings, allowing just three hits.
The second game was even tougher for the Cubs to swallow. It stayed scoreless through seven innings, with David Peterson and Brayan Bello trading zeros before the bullpens took over and kept the game locked up.
Then the Red Sox broke through against Chicago’s relievers. Javier Assad issued a walk to start the rally, and Ryan Rolison followed with another free pass. Wilyer Abreu made the Cubs pay with a double off the Green Monster that drove in two runs, and Jedixon Paez closed it out by firing five scoreless innings and allowing only three hits.
For San Diego, the timing could not have been better. The Padres had already clinched no worse than the fifth seed before taking the field, and a win over the Diamondbacks in the first game of their series would move them up to the fourth seed. That would keep them at Petco Park for the full three-game first-round series.
In Other News...
Tatis Just Turned A Padres Bullpen Question Into Front Office Pressure
With the Padres back in the postseason, Fernando Tatis Jr. has already shifted the conversation from celebration to retention, publicly urging president of baseball operations A.J. Preller to bring back free-agent reliever Adrian Morejon. It is the kind of comment that lands differently when it comes from one of the franchises face-of-the-team players, especially with Morejon having become a key part of San Diegos bullpen mix.
Now the question is less about whether Morejon has earned a strong case and more about whether the Padres are willing to act on it under their new ownership. Keeping a reliable arm in place always comes with financial tradeoffs, and Tatis public push adds a little more heat to a decision Preller already has to weigh carefully as San Diego looks ahead beyond this October run. [Read more 🡒]
Craig Stammen Made The Padres Embrace A Risky Plan At Last
In late July, Craig Stammen had plenty of reason to be skeptical about A.J. Prellers unconventional pitching plan. The Padres were trying to navigate a rotation that no longer fit the traditional mold, so the club began leaning on pitchers in specific matchup roles instead of asking them to work as classic starters. It was a risky shift, but one that matched the roster the Padres had in front of them.
Once Stammen embraced it, the approach helped steady the team through a useful stretch and kept San Diego in the race long enough to justify adding more pitching at the trade deadline. The arrangement also underscored how much of the burden on the rotation belonged to both Stammen and Preller, whose shared fingerprints were all over the problems and the fixes that followed. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Clinched A Spot But This Series Still Carries Real Stakes
The Padres may already have punched their ticket to October, but the margin for error is still thin as they open a series with the Diamondbacks, who remain alive in the playoff race. San Diego enters the matchup sitting atop the wild-card picture, and Arizona needs every game it can get, which gives this weekend an October feel even before the postseason begins.
Casey Mize is set to start the opener for San Diego against Brandon Pfaadt, and both clubs are likely to treat the series like a test run for the kind of decisions that get magnified in the playoffs. For the Padres, it is less about securing a berth now and more about lining up the rotation and navigating a game that still matters plenty in the standings. [Read more 🡒]