The Baltimore Orioles took Austin Hays in the third round in 2016 draft. They pushed him to the majors for the first time the following September. They developed him into an All-Star and considered him part of the youth movement that propelled the Orioles back into the postseason after a six-year hiatus.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the Orioles were all Hays had ever known as a pro.<\/p>\n
Then, after the first trade of his career, he found himself joining a postseason race in a city infamous for pelting Santa Claus with snowballs.<\/p>\n
The ensuing single in his first at-bat with the Phillies that July immediately allowed Hays to feel at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave me a standing ovation,\u201d Hays recalled. \u201cThen I go out to left field and everybody out there was hyping up. I was like, \u2018All right, this is going to be really good.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2026 But the one here was way crazier.\u201d<\/p>\n
The one here was the home run that Hays hit in his first at-bat with the Padres following his release from the upstart White Sox, an immediate icebreaker for a 31-year-old outfielder.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Luis Rengifo\u2019s sustained success as a late summer addition on a minor league deal and Robbie Ray\u2019s and Casey Mize\u2019s contributions have made it easy for the newcomers to fold into the Padres\u2019 culture amid their push for a franchise-first third straight postseason berth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting when you\u2019re going from a team that things didn\u2019t go the way you expected to into a situation where the team\u2019s making a playoff push and looking to play October baseball,\u201d Ray said. \u201c \u2026 The guys have made it super easy to transition over there. Obviously, you came here for a reason \u2014 to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two newcomers were cast off teams that rocketed into contention without them. Hays spent much of the season watching the White Sox surprise the American League while on the injured list. Meantime, Rengifo hit .205\/.280\/.254 in 57 games before his release from the Brewers. The switch-hitter quickly caught on with the Padres as a minor league free agent, was called up after Samad Taylor\u2019s oblique injury and collected three hits in a 19-2 win in Kansas City in his first start.<\/p>\n
Five days later, Rengifo homered in the eighth inning to send the Padres to a 4-2 win in Miami, the start of a 21-7 run that finally asserted the team as a legitimate wild-card contender.<\/p>\n
The team traded for Ray and Mize at the deadline, and its FanGraphs postseason odds have ballooned from 7.4% after a series loss in Atlanta to 61.8% heading into the final weekend of August.<\/p>\n
The Padres open a three-game series with the Rays on Friday in Tampa, Fla.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d said Rengifo, who is hitting .306\/.387\/.430 while now playing almost every day with his new team. \u201cWe have a good group here. \u2026 For me, they gave me the welcome feel pretty quick, and so I\u2019m grateful and thanks God for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The role for the left-handed-hitting Hays hasn\u2019t been nearly as prominent. He gets starts in left field against righties and has pinch-hit opportunities, the latter setting him up for the blast on Aug. 9.<\/p>\n
While he may have found a job with more playing time elsewhere, Hays jumped at the chance to join a contender after buying into the vision of White Sox baseball ops chief Chris Getz and then having to watch it come to fruition after leg injuries sidelined him for much of the season.<\/p>\n
Hays hopes the move to the Padres culminates with his fourth straight appearance in the postseason with a fourth different team. The bonds that tie a clubhouse together take root in spring training, but firsthand experience has shown Hays that taking part in meaningful wins can tear down walls pretty quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look over and everybody\u2019s got their hands up, and it\u2019s exciting,\u201d Hays said after his eighth-inning homer on Aug. 9 turned a save situation into a five-run cushion and a day off for Mason Miller, baseball\u2019s best closer. \u201cIt\u2019s nice when it\u2019s a close game and you get to contribute right away. It doesn\u2019t always work out like that, but fortunately, I got a good pitch to hit and I put a good swing on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys had my back. They were happy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first time the 34-year-old Ray was moved at the trade deadline was in the middle of the 2020 COVID season. Ray was sitting on a 7.84 ERA seven starts into the pandemic-shortened season, the Diamondbacks had decided to punt and Ray had just a few weeks to get right and prove himself useful to the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s no wonder he hasn\u2019t batted an eye on a more traditional trade to a contender after the Giants\u2019 plans for 2026 fizzled. He\u2019d posted a 1.09 ERA in eight starts ahead of the trade deadline, was wild in an off-schedule debut with the Padres (5 IP, 4 ER, 5 BBs), better the next time out and on Monday was two outs shy of a second quality start for his new team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been good,\u201d Ray said. \u201cObviously, the first couple were a little tough. Pitch count got elevated, but I was still able to keep the team in it, which is kind of the goal of going out there as a starting pitcher, trying to put up zeros and give the team a chance to win. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve felt more like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same has been true of Mize, who turned in the worst start of his career (3\u2153 IP, 8 ER) after he was traded from the team that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2018. He started games in the AL Wild Card Series and ALDS last year for the Tigers and was hoping to do so again this year.<\/p>\n
In fact, the Tigers may have been six games under .500 at the end of July, but their odds of making the postseason in the bland American League (26.6%) were better than that of the Padres (24.4%).<\/p>\n
Yet the Tigers decided on Aug. 1 that they had to get something for ace rental Tarik Skubal.<\/p>\n
Two days later, Mize was meeting new teammates in San Diego, all with a common goal.<\/p>\n