The Padres were enjoying this one.<\/p>\n
Every year has its challenges. There has never been a 162-game baseball season played over the course of 187 days in dozens of cities across four time zone that was not a grind.<\/p>\n
But some are more grindy than others.<\/p>\n
This was one such season for the Padres, who last night clinched a postseason berth for the third straight season and fifth time this decade.<\/p>\n
That is half the franchise\u2019s total playoff appearances since it was founded in 1969.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is special,\u201d Jake Cronenworth said. \u201cI think it\u2019s the new standard we\u2019ve set. This is where we want to get to, and obviously we want to get to the end and be the last team standing. But this is where it starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there were periods of uncertainty in each of the previous four playoff seasons during this window of contention that Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler promised would occur, none were like this.<\/p>\n
Last night\u2019s celebration came two games later than the past two seasons. The Padres also clinched with three games to go in 2022. They locked up their 2020 berth with six games remaining.<\/p>\n
All of those had a feeling of inevitability for weeks. This one did not seem virtually certain until maybe last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different situation,\u201d Manny Machado said last night in the midst of the celebration. \u201cMost of the years, we kind of closed through it. This year we struggled for a little bit, and a lot of people didn\u2019t think we were going to be here. I give credit to this group of guys. They stuck through it. Everyone was positive when the offense was down and the bullpen was picking us up. Then it was flip-flopped, and everyone stayed positive the whole way. That\u2019s a testament to the people that we have in here. You just gotta have confidence in baseball. Having confidence in baseball goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres were 50-53 on July 23. They were 11th among 15 National League teams, five spots away from the playoff field.<\/p>\n
It was less than three weeks ago, on Sept. 5, the day before they began what is now an MLB-best 15-2 run, that the Padres trailed the Phillies by six games and the Cubs by 6\u00bd games and were a half-game behind the Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n
Since then, the Padres finished off a series series win against the Yankees, swept the Nationals and Giants, won three of four against the Rockies, swept the Marlins and won a series at Dodger Stadium for the first time since April 2024.<\/p>\n
Almost every player who spoke in the din of the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium last night made sure to say some version of they were not finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still haven\u2019t gotten anywhere,\u201d said Michael King, who will start Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series. \u201cI think the first couple years we were excited just to get into the postseason. Now it\u2019s like, \u2018Let\u2019s do some work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the Padres are hoping for another month of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy,\u201d Machado said. \u201cBut this is why we play baseball \u2014 for those long roads ahead of us and the long grinds, the hurt, the ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n
So now what?<\/p>\n
The Padres and Cubs are on track to play each other in a National League Wild Card Series that will begin Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Where that series is will be determined this weekend.<\/p>\n
The Padres hold a one-game lead over the Cubs in the race for the No.4 seed. So they will play at Petco Park next week if the Padres can merely match the Cubs\u2019 number of victories the rest of the way. If the teams finish with identical records, the series will be at Wrigley Field because the Cubs hold the tiebreaker by virtue of having won the season series between the teams.<\/p>\n
The site could be determined by today.<\/p>\n
Because of the expected storms in the Northeast, the Cubs and Red Sox will play a doubleheader today. If the Cubs lose both games and the Padres beat the Diamondbacks, that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to get a home playoff series at Petco,\u201d Mason Miller said. \u201cWe know how special that place is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres have won 21 of their past 29 games at Petco Park and are 49-29 there this season. They finished 40-41 on the road.<\/p>\n
Since MLB expanded the playoffs in 2022 and began the best-of-three wild-card series, the Padres are 1-1 on the road in those series and 1-0 at home. Overall, visiting teams are 9-7 in the wild-card round.<\/p>\n
The business side of the organization is clamoring to start at home. The team will realize upwards of $3 million if they host the first round and likely spend about $1 million on travel for sponsors and staff if they are on the road.<\/p>\n
The Padres will certainly try to win their remaining games. But they also intend to make sure their pitchers are rested and will get Manny Machado and probably other position players at least one day off.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important,\u201d Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. \u201cWe love playing in front of our fans at Petco. We\u2019re a very good team at home. We\u2019ll talk about about it the next couple days. It\u2019s the next to-do list for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is something else being played for at Petco Park for at least another day.<\/p>\n
The Diamondbacks are two games behind the Phillies in the race for the final NL playoff spot.<\/p>\n
If the Phillies win twice at home against the Rays, they are in. But the Diamondbacks hold the tiebreaker between the teams and can get in if they win two more games than the Phillies do this weekend.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/standings_db34b2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Salas keeps rising<\/p>\n
We learned before the game that Ethan Salas is not only the Padres catcher of the future but is their No.1 catcher of the present as well, as he was in the starting lineup for the second straight night.<\/p>\n
By the time he was sipping apple cider and his teammates were showering him with harder stuff, he had essentially cemented his status.<\/p>\n
Baby\u2019s First Clinchmas \ud83e\udd79 pic.twitter.com\/RzZ1RCvS8L<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been impressive under the situation, everything he has been put through,\u201d Machado said. \u201cI think the most impressive part has been what he\u2019s been doing with the fingers. I mean, to catch a staff that you really haven\u2019t had all year \u2026 I think it has showed what he has.\u201d<\/p>\n The 20-year-old Salas, who made his major league debut on Sept. 2, not only seemed to be entirely in sync with starting pitcher Nick Pivetta last night, he got the Padres\u2019 first hit and scored their first run in the sixth inning and drove in the second of their three fifth-inning runs.<\/p>\n Salas is without any question their best defensive catcher. And after going hitless in his first 15 big-league at-bats, he is 8-for-20 since.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty amazing,\u201d Fernando Tatis Jr. said. \u201cHe\u2019s ready for the show. He\u2019s going to help us in a lot of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n This does not mean Freddy Fermin or Luis Campusano won\u2019t catch again this season or in the playoffs. Fermin is a plus defender and has playoff experience. All three are expected to be on the postseason roster.<\/p>\n Salas is entirely confident in his place on the team and at the same time could hardly believe he was at Dodger Stadium celebrating.<\/p>\n His 2025 season was mostly lost to a back injury. He began this season in Double-A and was promoted to Triple-A at the start of August.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind,\u201d Salas said. \u201cThank God I got healthy and everything\u2019s been going well. If you would have told me that I would have been here a year ago, I would have told you you\u2019re lying.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving forward<\/p>\n The man whose signing in 2019 signaled a new era of Padres baseball celebrated what he helped wrought again last night.<\/p>\n And that he is about to complete his worst season in more than a decade doesn\u2019t matter now.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m enjoying myself tonight, enjoying myself with this group of guys,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it all year. This is what we do. This is how we play. This is who we are. We pick each other up. I haven\u2019t had the best season, but everyone has picked me up. So now it\u2019s time to finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n Different dude<\/p>\n Pivetta pitched like a man who knew how important the game was.<\/p>\n But only because that\u2019s how he always feels.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t actually know we were clinching tonight,\u201d Pivetta said afterward. \u201cI just kept my head down and focused knowing I was going to face a good lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n Pivetta, in his fourth start back after nearly five months on the injured list with an elbow flexor strain, made it through 4\u2154 innings without allowing any runs. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven in the kind of start he will be asked to turn in next week.<\/p>\n \u201c(Dodgers starter Tyler) Glasnow did a great job,\u201d Pivettta said. \u201cHe did what he did. I wanted to match him and do the best I possibly could.\u201d<\/p>\n Pivetta was only willing to reflect in passing on how much he worked to get back to help the Padres this season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s been interesting, and I\u2019m just grateful to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up<\/p>\n King spent the previous couple days letting all the hitters know he was not interested in pitching again in the regular season.<\/p>\n \u201cI told them I\u2019d be really mad on Sunday if I had to pitch,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very fun to not have to gameplan for the Diamondbacks and plan for whoever we got.\u201d<\/p>\n Casey Mize and Walker Buehler will start the first two games this weekend, and the Padres will piece together Sunday\u2019s nine innings.<\/p>\n Padres manager Craig Stammen said earlier this week that King would only start Sunday if the Padres had to win to get in the postseason and that he would otherwise start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n Fourpeat<\/p>\n Austin Hays has over the past three weeks gone from probably only on the roster until Miguel Andujar returned to the reason Andujar is not back yet and might not be in the postseason.<\/p>\n For the second straight night, Hays drove in a run with a pinch-hit single, and he is now batting .380 against left-handed pitchers since joining the Padres on Aug. 9. That includes a run of nine hits in his past 14 at-bats against lefties.<\/p>\n Last night, Hays was part of his fourth consecutive clinching celebration after making the postseason with the Orioles in 2023, the Phillies in \u201824 and the Reds in \u201825.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than being at the end of the year and popping bottles,\u201d Hays said. \u201c\u2026 I suffered some rough years in Baltimore early on with the 100-loss season, so I do not take it for granted, the opportunity to be on a good team, no matter what the role is. If I get one at-bat and I\u2019m done, and that\u2019s it, I\u2019m good with it. Whatever it takes to just be on a winning team and have a chance to play October baseball. I don\u2019t take it for granted. \u2026 It\u2019s been a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n Different perspective<\/p>\n Stammen got to experience two playoff runs as a reliever for the Padres.<\/p>\n He was along for the ride the past two years as a special assistant in baseball operations. Earlier this week, he recalled watching the games at Dodger Stadium from the stands and thinking it was \u201creally cool.\u201d<\/p>\n At no point until he took the job last November did he think he would be managing.<\/p>\n But there he was last night picking up pitching coach Ruben Niebla in a bear hug after the final out and a few minutes later kicking off the postgame celebration in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best part is I feel like I\u2019m able to do it with some of my best friends, guys on our coaching staff that we built great relationships with and some of the guys I used to sit in the clubhouse with and mess around and pop champagne with them,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cSo I think that\u2019s probably the most satisfying part.\u201d<\/p>\n His brief speech touched on the tenets he laid out in spring training \u2014 showing up every day and doing their job, intentional togetherness and competing with joy.<\/p>\n And then he shook his champagne bottle and began spraying.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was a lot of fun because, you know, these guys have respected me the whole year. They\u2019ve shown me a lot of love, and I was able to articulate that back to them \u2014 how proud I am of them and how exciting this is. But we\u2019ve got more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Good start<\/p>\n Kwanza Jones and Jos\u00e9 E. Feliciano were in the visiting clubhouse celebrating with their newest employees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not the story,\u201d Feliciano said. \u201cThe story is the fanbase and the city have been waiting for a long time. We have now a winning team. You never know. We\u2019re in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones and Feliciano were at Dodger Stadium for all three games this week and were clearly reveling in what had been accomplished.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people underestimated us,\u201d Jones said. \u201cA lot of people still do. But we just keep going. This is an example of being all in \u2014 everyone understanding what needs to be done and doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones and Felicano spoke after buying the team about believing they share something of an underdog mentality with San Diego and the Padres<\/a>. And that was on their minds last night.<\/p>\n \u201cAll my life people have underestimated who I am and what we can do,\u2019 said Feliciano, who was born in Puerto Rico and made his billions in private equity. \u201cI empathize with this team, with this city. I think we can bring a pennant home and maybe a big ring.\u201d<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n Luis Rengifo, Gavin Sheets and Andujar were at Dodger Stadium to take part in the celebration last night. You can read in Jeff Sanders\u2019 pregame notebook (here<\/a>) about Sheets\u2019 imminent return from the injured list. All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n \t\t\t
\nTom Krasovic outlines in his column (here<\/a>) why he\u2019s buying the Padres as a dangerous playoff team.
\nTatis was 2-for-3 with a walk last night and has put up a .434 on-base percentage while reaching base in 18 consecutive games. Last night was his 46th multi-hit game of the season, a new career high. Tatis also stole two bases last night and has pushed his career-high total to 38.
\nYuki Matsui, who got the win after relieving Pivetta with two outs in the fifth inning and got through the first out in the sixth, lowered his ERA to 1.84, which would be the lowest ever by a Padres left-hander with at least 60 innings pitched. (Mark Davis had a 1.85 ERA in 1989, the year he won the NL Cy Young award.)
\nIn his first game since returning from a stay of more than two months on the injured list, Jason Adam got three outs in five pitches last night.
\nXander Bogaerts is batting .300 with a .417 OBP during a nine-game on base streak and .290 with an .815 OPS<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n