Good morning,
The interminable inevitability has come to pass.
The Padres clinched their spot in the playoffs.
It happened last night in one of the most 2025 Padres ways it could have.
They came back twice to win by one run in 11 innings after their sixth relief pitcher of the night escaped a jam and a player who neither began the season with the team nor started the game drove in a runner who had been moved over by a sacrifice bunt.
“This has been a tough road for this club,” Mike Shildt said as he stood in the middle of the Padres clubhouse addressing his players before they began spraying champagne and beer all over each other and pretty much every inch of the place. “This has not been an easy road at all. … This has been a grindy son of a b—h. And you guys are tough dawgs. You guys are some bad dudes. And I love you and respect the heck out of you. Tonight is indicative of it. You fight like you did tonight, no one will beat us.”
My game story (here) from the 5-4 victory over the Brewers described the scene after Freddy Fermin’s walk-off single and other aspects of the evening. But the story mostly touched on that “grindy” season and the new normal for the Padres, which is being a contender.
For whatever slog the past month has been and however pedestrian the Padres were for two months in the middle of the season, last night was about celebrating what they accomplished and what they have done four times in the past six years.
“It’s special,” Jake Cronenworth said. “It’s a lot of what Peter (Seidler) did — invested in this city, invested in this group. A lot of the guys in here were impacted by him. And for him to leave his impact — the front office and everybody to put together a team that can win every single year — is truly special for the city.”
Cronenworth guessed it was “six or seven” players who have been around for the entire run. It is actually just Cronenworth, Manny Machado and Adrian Morejón.
Luis Campusano and Fernando Tatis Jr. have been with the team during the entirety of the winning, but Tatis missed the 2022 season due to injury and suspension and Campusano did not spend significant time on the roster in ‘20 or this season.
Three other players (Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Robert Suarez) have been Padres since 2021.
Tatis missing
Last night’s celebration went off without one of the team’s brightest stars, biggest contributors and most prolific celebrators, same as last night’s game was played without him.
Tatis did join the celebration via FaceTime for a few minutes on Machado’s phone with Jose Iglesias nearby and then Gavin Sheets showing up to pour out a beer for a smiling Tatis, who was home ill.
Tatis is expected to stay home at least another day, as the Padres await results of tests to see what ails him.
The Padres have the luxury of time now that they have clinched a playoff berth. But they will feel better if they can confirm his exact malady.
“It’s a big miss not having him here to celebrate,” Shildt said. “There are a lot of reasons we’re here, and Tati is a big one. This guy has played as much as he’s ever played in his career, and he’s done an exceptional job. He’s helped us win games in a lot of different ways.”
Tatis leads the Padres with a 5.7 WAR,129 wRC+ and 32 stolen bases. He is second with 23 home runs and is a leading candidate to win his second Gold Glove in right field.
On to Game 1
Shildt essentially named Nick Pivetta the Game 1 starter for the wild-card series, which begins Tuesday. It seems Yu Darvish and Michael King are set up to start that series as well. King presumably starting Friday against the and Darvish on Saturday against the Diamondbacks would line them up for Game 2 and 3, respectively.
Dylan Cease is scheduled to start tomorrow’s series finale against the Brewers. It will be interesting to see what his role will be for the wild-card series.
“The first round, we only need three starters,” pitching coach Ruben Niebla said. “So there might be one of these guys out there helping out (in the bullpen) as well.”
Practice session
As tune-ups go, Pivetta’s outing on Friday was not ideal.
He tied a career-high with five walks and allowed three runs in 5⅔ innings. The last of his walks came with two outs in the sixth inning, preventing him from getting his 20th quality start of the season, as Shildt pulled him.
“I’m always just happy to help the team compete, help the team to win, and that’s all I want to do,” Pivetta said. “They were able to pick me up tonight. I didn’t have my best stuff tonight.”
Pivetta last night set new career highs for innings pitched (181⅔) and strikeouts (190) in a season.
It was almost certainly not only because he likely has seven days before his next start that Shildt allowed Pivetta to throw a season-high 112 pitches. Pivetta was not happy Shildt pulled him in his previous start with a two-run lead in the fifth inning.
“Nick wasn’t as sharp as he has been in the past,” Niebla said of last night’s outing. “… But he battled. That’s who he is. A lot of people call him a dawg. That’s who he is. I know he was fatiguing a little bit. We kept talking about it in between innings. He’s like, ‘I can keep going. I can keep going.’ And Mike Shildt gave him the opportunity to do that.”
Rest and conquer
Shildt plans to sit some of his regular position players at least a couple times over the season’s final five games and will try to get his back-end relievers some down time as well.
But he was not ready to concede the division to the Dodgers or the No.4 seed to the Cubs just yet.
“We’re still looking to go compete, because we still have some unfinished business this season,” Shildt said. “We’re going to do it in a manner that is giving guys a break and giving guys an opportunity to get ready as well. So we’ll be in concert of giving guys the right opportunity and the rest and still competing to take down more wins.
“We’re gonna still go. We show up to compete, regardless of who’s on the field. And the good news is, we’re gonna be able to give some guys some opportunities, put guys in a place where they can appropriately get some rest and still stay sharp. But by no mistake, we expect to go beat compete tomorrow. That division title is still on the line. There’s no reason why we should back down now. Let’s go grab it.”
As it stands, the Padres are highly likely to play the Cubs in Chicago in the wild-card round. But passing the Dodgers or Cubs in the standings would shift the Padres’ first-round series to Petco Park.
Because the Dodgers won the season series between the teams, their magic number to clinch the NL West is three. Here is what would have to happen for the Padres to pass the Dodgers:
It is a little more conceivable that the Padres could pass the Cubs, as they would have the tiebreaker based on a better intradivision record. Here is what would have to happen:
Missing Adam
Jeremiah Estrada’s voice cracked multiple times as he discussed fellow reliever Jason Adam, whose season was ended by a ruptured quad tendon on Sept. 1.
“It sucks to see it, but he got us here, and the fact that we’re able to pick him up and show him that we got his back, that we’re here for him, we love it,” Estrada said. “And I think that’s the best thing about it, that we’re a family.”
Adam was an All-Star and was among the MLB leaders in holds (29), ERA (1.93) and appearances (65) when he was injured while making a move for a groundball.
He has been around the clubhouse for every home game following his surgery, and he was there for the celebration last night.
“It’s such a special group,” Adam said. “Obviously, I miss playing. But I love watching these guys go to work every night. I’d pay money to sit there and watch them, but I get a free ticket.”
Rodriguez’s moment
With Mason Miller unavailable due to his recent workload, the Padres went to extraordinary lengths to cover the final innings last night.
For the first time this season, Morejón and Robert Suarez pitched a third consecutive day. That was something only Estrada had done (once) this season.
Suarez worked the ninth and Morejón the 10th. And then it was Bradgley Rodriguez’s turn.
“We know what we have in Bradley,” Niebla said. “He’s got great stuff, electric stuff. … It’s a guy that we’re going to continue evaluating. We like him a lot, and obviously we weren’t hesitant to put him in that position.”
At that point it was Ridriguez and left-handers Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta left. Peralta had worked three of the previous four days but was warming up earlier in the game.
Rodriguez entered a 4-4 game to start the 11th with a runner on second base. There was still a runner on second after the first out, but Rodriguez soon was working the bases loaded and just the one out after a dribbled single to the left side of the infield and an intentional walk.
On a 100 mph full-count fastball, Jackson Chourio sent a grounder up the middle that Cronenworth fielded, stepped on second base and threw to first to complete the double play.
“It was crazy,” Rodriguez said. “I jumped up. I knew that ball was coming at me, and I saw that ball fly above me. But luckily, I had Jake Cronenworth behind me, and I kind of just stood there, kind of in shock. I saw him make the double play. I’m just very glad that we were able to come out with the victory, and I got the opportunity to get that for the team today.”
It will be hard for Rodriguez to top his first career victory, which came in his fifth career appearance. But the 21-year-old right-hander has plans to be around for plenty more big moments.
“I keep telling myself this all the time, but I was made for this,” he said. “I was made for this opportunity. I was made to go out there and pitch, so I thank God that we were able to do it.”
The dynamic in the bullpen was significantly altered this month, as Adam was lost and then rookie David Morgan, who had worked his way into higher-leverage assignments, was shut down with shoulder soreness.
“I tell you what, the last 15 days without Morgan and Jason Adam have been really tough,” Niebla said. “And the guys have stepped up in the bullpen, and we saw it today. Some guys that we usually don’t see in tight ball games were in there today. We’ve got to find out about the playoffs and what we’re going to do. But thankfully, we’ve got Morgan probably here in a couple days.”
Morgan is eligible to come off the injured list tomorrow.
BJ’s return
Before scoring the winning run, Bryce Johnson helped make sure last night’s game got as far as it did.
Starting for the first time in three weeks and for the first time in left field in nearly two months, Johnson laid out to catch a sinking, tailing line drive by Christian Yelich for the first out of the ninth inning.
“Credit to (Dave) Macias,” Johnson said, giving a nod to the Padres’ first base and outfield coach. “He moved me over right before that pitch, and it came off the bat hot. I knew I had a chance at it and just dove, made the play and kept it rolling.”
Johnson, who also singled last night, is among the unlikeliest of Padres to be contributing at this point in 2025.
Johnson was with the team last season. But unremarkably so. And he was non-tendered after hitting .206 with a .286 on-base percentage in 73 plate appearances. He signed a minor-league deal with the Pirates and was with their Triple-A affiliate in April when the Padres decided they needed some depth and reacquired him.
You can read Jeff Sanders’ story (here) from June when Johnson was called up.
“This is incredible,” he said last night. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t think I was gonna be here. But thanks to A.J. and all those guys for giving me another shot.”
Johnson has remained with the club since his June call-up, starting nine games in left field and six in center and appeared in 50 games in all. He is batting .358 with a .394 OBP in 73 plate appearances while often going several days or even a week between plate appearances.
“So proud of that m—f—r, dude,” Jackson Merrill said. “One of the best guys I’ve met in a really long time, and he works his ass off every day. He’s always ready to play.”
Tidbits
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts did an extensive workout on the field yesterday afternoon with the major league coaching and medical staff evaluating him for the first time in a week. Provided he is no worse for having done that, he will be activated and start at shortstop tonight for the first time since fracturing his left foot with a foul ball on Aug. 27. Shildt indicated it will be partially up to Bogaerts how many games he plays and how many at-bats he needs over the final week to be ready for the postseason.
Iglesias’ sacrifice bunt that moved Johnson to third before Fermin’s walk-off single was the Padres’ 47th of the season, 12 more than any other team this season and most in the major leagues since the 2021 Rockies had 48.
The home run Iglesias hit in the fifth inning to get the Padres to 3-2 was his second in 294 at-bats this season. Iglesias also singled and walked.
Merrill was 2-for-5 last night and is batting .323 with a 1.091 OPS over the past 16 games.
Luis Arraez tied the game 3-3 with a single in the seventh inning. That also extended his hitting streak to 11 games, during which he is batting .333 (15-for-45).
Joe Musgrove resumed playing catch yesterday after a few days off due to some soreness in his surgically repaired elbow. Musgrove described the soreness as a normal part of the progression in his return from Tommy John surgery. He continues to prepare on a schedule that could have him pitching in relief should the Padres advance to the NL Division Series or, more likely, the NL Championship Series.
All four of the games between the Padres and Brewers this season have been decided by one run. The Padres are 3-1 against the Brewers, who have MLB’s best record (95-62).
Last night’s victory was the Padres’ 39th in a game in which they trailed. That is tied for sixth most in the major leagues and is one more than they had last season. It was their 23rd comeback victory after trailing by two or more runs, tied for third most in the major leagues.
The Padres’ 30 one-run victories are tied with the Mariners for most in MLB. Their 30-23 record is ninth best.
The Padres are 8-4 in extra innings, which is the third-best record in MLB. Their 12 extra-inning games are tied for fifth fewest.
A gigantic thank you to Annie Heilbrunn and Jeff Sanders for their work in the clubhouse last night helping to gather quotes.
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.