The San Diego Padres are heading into the final stretch of the regular season with a National League Wild Card spot still in play, and that alone tells you how far this team has come.
Back in the opening weeks of the 2026 season, a run at October looked like a long shot. Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill all stumbled out of the gate.
Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove were knocked out by early injuries, a major hit to the rotation. And Craig Stammen’s first year on the job had plenty of people wondering why San Diego went with him instead of Albert Pujols.
Still, the Padres have clawed their way back to 87-70 and entered Wednesday in a three-way tie for the top spot in the NL Wild Card race. That’s a far cry from where things stood not long ago, even after a rough 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game set in LA.
ESPN’s David Schoenfield handed the Padres a B+ in his season grades, and the turnaround is easy to see. San Diego was sitting in first place in the NL West after beating the Dodgers and moving to 29-18 on May 18. But by July 23, the club had fallen to 50-53, and postseason hopes were fading fast.
Tatis didn’t hit his first home run until his 56th game, and Machado spent a long stretch under the .200 mark. Yet the season changed shape thanks in large part to Mason Miller, who has been one of the best players in baseball, and Ty France, who has put together what looks like a real Comeback Player of the Year case while also looking like the biggest steal of free agency.
"With Tatis and Merrill on fire, Ty France having a huge season and Mason Miller ready to lock things down in the ninth inning, maybe this is the Padres team that gets to the World Series," Schoenfield wrote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Big 3 is finally swinging it well. If that holds into October, and if France keeps producing while Ethan Salas and Luis Campusano stay productive, this offense has a real chance to carry San Diego a long way.
For a team that looked buried in July, simply being here says plenty.
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 🡒]