Mike Shildt had Padres players’ backs.
Their fronts, too.
Minutes after what turned out to be his final game as Padres manager, Shildt defused a volatile situation at Wrigley Field.
Padres infielder Jose Iglesias, seething over a plate umpire’s error that dealt teammate Xander Bogaerts a ninth-inning strikeout, charged toward several umpires as they filed past the dugout following the Wild Card Series-ending defeat.
Shildt reacted fast. As Iglesias got close to the umps, the 55-year-old bespectacled manager pivoted and pulled Iglesias back, moved in front of him and held his ground while Iglesias and now Bogaerts shouted at the umpires.
Plate umpire D.J. Reyburn yelled at the players. Insults and profanity were heard in a fan’s video of the exchange.
Yo holy shit #Padres reaction after the game to the umpires pic.twitter.com/Mw6475vUd2
— kyler (@padsfanatic) October 3, 2025
Major League Baseball fined Iglesias and Bogaerts, also suspending Iglesias for the first game of the 2026 season.
It was good that Shildt — who’d gone on to the field earlier to stick up for Bogaerts and pointed at the umps while retreating — maintained his poise amid a rapidly escalating situation. He may have kept a bad situation from getting worse. In effect, Shildt’s peacekeeping actions announced it was time for the Padres to move on from a 2025 season during which he often lauded his players’ grit and team-first ethic.
Monday, Shildt moved on from his job.
Citing a “severe toll” of the job, Shildt wrote that he’s retiring as Padres manager with two years left on his contract, saying the “grind of the baseball season has taken a severe toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally.”
Know this: Shildt leaves behind a large void.
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He gets an A- grade for his two-year run.
Shildt became the first Padres manager to lead consecutive seasons of 90 wins or more, collecting a pair of wild-card berths. He earned the trust of A.J. Preller, a high-energy, high-activity 48-year-old who oversees all baseball operations. And by all public appearances, Shildt had the trust of third-baseman Manny Machado, a savvy and no-nonsense face of the franchise who’s under contract through 2033.
The attention to detail established by Shildt and staff, said Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove, was the best Musgrove had ever witnessed.
Padres manager Mike Shildt watches Monday’s workout at Wrigley Field the day before the Padres and Cubs begin their National League Wild Card Series. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
If not for the 2024 Padres losing the final two games of the National League Division Series to the Dodgers, Shildt’s grade here would be even higher.
Would things have turned out differently for Shildt’s first Padres club if Shildt hadn’t started Dylan Cease on short rest in Game 4 against L.A.?
Maybe. But it was the Padres’ failure to score any runs in Games 4 and 5 that kept the team from advancing to the National League Championship Series.
Several baseball folks have said if the Padres had finished off the Dodgers last October, they would have then beaten the Mets in the NLCS and the Yankees in the World Series.
Padres manager Mike Shildt and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts yell at each other after the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch during the ninth inning on Thursday. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who clashed a few times with Shildt, was one of those forecasters.
“Shildty Ball” carried over into 2025, when the Padres won their first 10 home games. Sharpened by spring training, they played cleaner baseball than their opponents, including a talented but disjointed Braves club that lost all four games of the season-opening series in the East Village.
The fast start created a cushion in the wild-card races that never disappeared, a factor in three Padres rivals selling off talent in July.
Shildt’s second Padres team wasn’t super-exciting. It finished 18th in runs scored and 28th in home runs. Replacing left-fielder Jurickson Profar’s astounding 2024 season likely wasn’t possible.
But the 2025 Padres were better than most at several facets of baseball. They finished second in run prevention and third at turning balls in play into defensive outs.
Manager Mike Shildt #8 of the San Diego Padres is introduced before Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sept. 30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Though Shildt may have gone too far by leading the big leagues in sacrifice bunts this year, he also understood the Padres lacked great home run power and that one run could go far with this club.
For sure, the Padres are losing a good manager in Shildt. All five of Shildt’s teams that played a full season, including three with the St. Louis Cardinals, reached the postseason.
His win rates of .559 with St. Louis and .565 with San Diego translated to .561 for his 775 regular-season games.
Against Bruce Bochy, the best manager of his generation, Shildt holds a 13-7 record.
But, making his retirement decision a big victory, Shildt is gaining a healthier life.
The Padres, for their part, are a better organization than when Shildt took over. The players he leaves behind learned how to better read the game, get the small details right and pull together.
Machado grew into his job as team leader, as did Fernando Tatis Jr.
Like many managers of this era, Shildt made sure to defend his players in comments to reporters. He never criticized them publicly. “I don’t run from people,” he said this summer, explaining his faith in a player going through tough times.
A non-Padres scout cautioned Monday that differences between front office personnel and a team’s manager “are the norm” in the majors, but Preller seemed to have a much smoother relationship with Shildt than he did with Bob Melvin, the manager in 2022 and 2023. To that end, Shildt said he benefited from having worked two years under Preller as an advisor before replacing Melvin.
If this oft-forsaken franchise ever creates a World Series parade in the East Village, there should be a spot somewhere on the stage for Mike Shildt.
He paid it forward.
Originally Published: October 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM PDT