The Padres have picked the perfect time to catch fire, and now the payoff could be huge.
San Diego surged to the top of the National League Wild Card standings entering Saturday after ripping off an 11-1 run over its last 12 games. That burst of form has changed the conversation around a race that not long ago looked like it might come down to the Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks meeting in the final series of the regular season at Petco Park.
Instead, San Diego has created some breathing room. As of the morning of Saturday, Sept. 19, the Padres were tied with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs at 85-69, with eight games left to play.
That leaves the door open for San Diego to finish as the No. 1 Wild Card team, which would set up the possibility of hosting a Wild Card Series.
There’s still no room to coast, though. Arizona remains in the mix, even if the Padres have separated themselves a bit. The Diamondbacks could also play themselves out of the race if they stumble against the New York Yankees or Colorado Rockies before that scheduled meeting with San Diego.
The path ahead is demanding for the Padres. Their regular-season finale against Arizona could matter a lot, and before that they have a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday, Sept. 22.
The other teams in the mix have their own tough stretches, too. The Phillies are in a series against the New York Mets, then will see the NL-leading Milwaukee Brewers before finishing with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Cubs dropped one game to the Cincinnati Reds, then host the Miami Marlins and close the season against the Boston Red Sox.
For now, the race is wide open, but the most likely trio to get in appears to be San Diego, Chicago and Philadelphia. With all three teams level in the standings as of Saturday morning, this is a finish worth watching closely.
And if the Padres keep this pace, Bob says there’s a real path for San Diego to host one of those Wild Card matchups.
In Other News...
Padres Catch A Timely Break As Wild Card Pressure Builds
A late-season push for the postseason just got a little easier for San Diego. The Diamondbacks have officially released Lourdes Gurriel Jr., removing a familiar threat from their lineup as the Padres prepare for the final series between the two clubs with the Wild Card race tightening.
Gurriel had been one of Arizonas more effective hitters against San Diego over the years, which made him a name the Padres always had to account for in this matchup. Instead, injuries and a difficult return have stripped him from the equation at the exact moment every edge matters, and San Diego now gets to face a division rival while trying to protect its lead with the regular season nearly done. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Just Got A Playoff Race Break They Needed
The Mets gave the Phillies a jolt in the wild-card chase with a 10-3 win that looked especially bad for Philadelphia once the game settled in. Carson Benges 19th home run helped set the tone, Francisco Alvarez added a three-run shot, and New Yorks bullpen did its part by shutting down the Phillies after the fifth inning. For a Padres club trying to stay afloat in a crowded playoff picture, that outcome mattered as much for what it did to the standings as for the final score.
San Diego has been waiting for breaks like this, because every loss by a rival in the same race can make the path a little less steep. The Phillies slide took a hit in the wild-card standings, and the Padres benefited without stepping on the field, the kind of result contenders keep an eye on as September pressure starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Fernando Tatis Jr. Finally Solved The Padres Biggest Stretch Run Need
Fernando Tatis Jr. spent the first part of the season searching for his best offensive form, but a late-May mechanical tweak to his batting stance helped unlock the kind of power the Padres needed most. Since making that adjustment, he has looked much more like the middle-of-the-order force San Diego expected, driving the ball with far more authority and turning a sluggish start into a major turnaround.
Even before the power surge arrived, Tatis was still helping in other ways by getting on base and creating pressure with his legs, which mattered for a Padres club trying to stay afloat in the NL Wild Card race. Now the question is less about whether he can carry an offense at times and more about how far this version of Tatis can push San Diego in the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]