The Padres are still working to lock down a National League Wild Card spot over the next few days, but after beating the Dodgers on Wednesday night, they’ve put themselves in a strong position to do it.
And if San Diego does punch its ticket to October, one MLB executive thinks this team could be built for something bigger. In a conversation with ESPN’s Buster Olney, the anonymous exec made a bold call: the Padres “are going to win the World Series for the first time in their history, with just about everything trending in the right direction.”
The main reason behind that prediction is the bullpen.
“Once you get into the postseason with all of the built-in off days, that's going to help their bullpen -- which is the best,” the exec told Olney.
That’s a pretty loud endorsement, and it’s not hard to see why the relief corps has caught attention. Mason Miller headlines the group, giving San Diego a late-inning weapon who can shut things down. Adrian Morejon has turned in another strong season, Jason Adam is back in the mix, and Bradgley Rodriguez, Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsui and other depth pieces give the Padres plenty of options when the game tightens up.
The timing matters too. San Diego’s offense has come alive in the second half, giving the club a much different look than it had earlier in the year. The rotation still feels like the biggest question mark, but there’s enough there with Michael King, Nick Pivetta, Casey Mize and Robbie Ray to at least make a run at a deep October.
So even if the Padres end up as the third and final NL Wild Card team, they’re not being viewed as a soft entry. With the offense heating up, the rotation settling in and that bullpen drawing rave reviews, one executive sees a club capable of making a serious push toward a title.
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 🡒]