{"id":490234,"date":"2026-10-09T09:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/490234\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:48:26","slug":"padres-have-been-a-hit-except-in-the-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/490234\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres have been a hit, except in the postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

President of baseball operations A.J. Preller stood in a corner of the clubhouse as it neared midnight on the final day of the Padres season.<\/p>\n

In a room full of other red-eyed men exchanging hugs and smiles and handshakes and head shakes, Preller addressed the task that always seems to arrive so suddenly and too soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping to push that out for at least three more weeks or so,\u201d he said Wednesday night. \u201cBut unfortunately, get started on those conversations tomorrow, and we\u2019ll start looking at the offseason and look at the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That will begin with a review of 2026.<\/p>\n

This was another successful season for the team that for decades-long portions of its existence did not have any of those.<\/p>\n

The Padres won 91 games, tied for the fourth-most in franchise history.<\/p>\n

They made the postseason for the fifth time in seven years and third time in a row, neither of which had ever happened in San Diego.<\/p>\n

They won a playoff series for the fifth time in seven years, something Padres teams had done three times in the franchise\u2019s first 57 years of existence.<\/p>\n

And yet, next year will begin like all the others \u2014 with the Padres chasing their first championship.<\/p>\n

This is the golden era of Padres baseball.<\/p>\n

And it is also getting old.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the year gets to the playoffs, and we lose to a great team, and it was a really, obviously, a tremendous series,\u201d Preller said. \u201cBut ultimately, we didn\u2019t make it. We didn\u2019t do enough to win the game. So you can look back and say, \u2018Would have, could have, should have.\u2019 But ultimately, you know, it\u2019s about finding a way to get a team that can get all the way to the World Series. And it\u2019s not for lack of effort. And this group has got a ton of pride. It\u2019s a great group, honestly. So proud of the group. But got to get a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is time \u2014 probably plenty, given the looming labor war and expected lockout \u2014 to discuss the roster and all the areas of need going forward.<\/p>\n

What can assuredly be assessed in the immediate aftermath of a National League Division Series loss to the Brewers is that the Padres have to more consistently execute on offense if they want to do that thing they say is the goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a battle; it was a grind,\u201d Fernando Tatis Jr. said of the Division Series. \u201cThere were so many lessons learned. They had the upper hand. We have to sit down and regroup and see how we can get better and how we can be on the other side next year. \u2026 There was a lot of learning experience, I\u2019m just going to put it that way. \u2026 We need to keep battling and find a way to give San Diego what they really deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before diving into that, a few qualifications must be acknowledged:<\/p>\n

The Padres just played what was, by at least one measure, the closest postseason series in 111 years and one that repeatedly brought to life the notion that baseball is a game of inches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not since the 1915 World Series had a postseason series of at least three games been played in which neither team led by more than two runs at any point.<\/p>\n

And of all the close calls in a series full of them, the final one will be the lasting image.<\/p>\n

Had Manny Machado\u2019s fly ball in Wednesday\u2019s eighth inning had an exit velocity of 107.6 mph instead of 106.7 mph or a launch angle of 27 degrees instead of 28 degrees, we might be talking about Game 5 in Milwaukee on Friday.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Brewers held on for a 3-1, series-clinching win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MilwaukeeMilwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell catches a ball hit by San Diego Padres\u2019 Manny Machado during the eighth inning in Game 4 of baseball\u2019s National League Division Series Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull)<\/p>\n

The Brewers were the top seed in the National League after finishing the regular season with a major league-best 103 wins and MLB\u2019s second-highest run total and second-lowest staff ERA.<\/p>\n

This was not a beatdown. The Padres were\u00a0right\u00a0there.<\/p>\n

As he departed his final postgame news conference on Wednesday night, Padres manager Craig Stamen grinned and leaned back against an elevator wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo close,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd yet so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end always comes suddenly in the playoffs. It always feels like an opportunity lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly one team gets to win it in the end,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cUnfortunately, this year it wasn\u2019t our chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while the postseason has only small sample sizes for which there is generally only overreaction, the Padres are providing enough repeated small samples to draw conclusions about a big problem.<\/p>\n

And their struggles this October were similar enough to what dragged them down for portions of the regular season that they simply cannot be dismissed.<\/p>\n

The Padres have bowed out of the postseason each of the past three years because they go cold at the plate.<\/p>\n

The most crushing part is that in two of those seasons it could be argued they were as well-positioned as any team in the playoff field to win a World Series.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers were widely quoted after winning the World Series in 2024 that their toughest series was the NLDS against the Padres.<\/p>\n

Taking a break from his team\u2019s celebration on Wednesday, manager Pat Murphy said this: \u201cThe Padres, they\u2019re a great team. They could have won it all, but that\u2019s just the postseason. \u2026 Believe me, that team right there can beat anybody in baseball. I\u2019m just grateful we got through.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024 and this year, the Padres finished the regular season hotter than any team in the major leagues. In both instances, their bullpen was built for the mad dash of the postseason. Both times, they dominated their Wild Card Series opponent on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

And then at some point in the Division Series, they fizzled.<\/p>\n

They were up 2-1 in the 2024 NLDS before closing with 24 scoreless innings, the longest such postseason streak in 33 years.<\/p>\n

They finished Wednesday night\u2019s game hitless over their final 21 at-bats, the longest such skid to end a postseason ever by a National League team.<\/p>\n

The Padres hit .145\/.185\/.194 over the final two games in the 2024 NLDS. They hit .189\/.243\/.305 in their NL Wild Card Series loss to the Cubs in 2025. They hit .181\/.278\/.236 in this year\u2019s NLDS.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I think our offense played well in this series,\u201d Stammen said. \u201c\u2026 You look at the first three games, we had tons of scoring opportunities and we cashed through on a few but not always. You look at the Wild Card Series, we definitely had a good offense in the first game and scored four more in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t jumble them all together. When you get to the playoffs, you\u2019re going to face the best pitching staffs in the entire league. The way pitching is going now, you\u2019re not going to see a starter for more than four or five innings unless he\u2019s one of the dominant guys in our league. So you\u2019re just going to have to match up and face everybody\u2019s best three or four pitchers the entire game, which makes it tough for offense. \u2026 The margins are just very close in the playoffs. The narrative of us not hitting could have been in the past, I felt like. We took a lot of great at-bats in this series.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego Padres fans hold up signs as Joe Musgrove pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers during the eighth inning in game four of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

That was true. And the Padres\u2019 pitchers held the Brewers\u2019 offense mostly in check as well.<\/p>\n

The difference was in the Brewers\u2019 ability to get on base (.340) and slug (two doubles, a triple and three home runs). And it was in the timely hitting they got from two stars, as William Contreras was 6-for-16 with two home runs and Jackson Chourio made the most of his three hits (game-tying two-run homer in Game 1, walk-off single in Game 2 and single that drove in the deciding run in Game 4).<\/p>\n

The Padres hit two home runs and a double in the Division Series. And while Machado went 4-for-13 with a double and four walks to complete the best postseason of his career (.350\/.480\/.600), Jackson Merrill and Tatis were the worst versions of their split offensive personalities.<\/p>\n

The two players whose second-half surges powered the Padres this season hit .147 (5-for-34) in the Division Series.<\/p>\n

\"FernandoFernando Tatis Jr. and teammates celebrate after his home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

After getting the Padres rolling with a home run on the first pitch any of them saw in the Wild Card Series and going 2-for-3 with a walk and a spectacular run scored on a stolen base, Tatis had one hit in his next 19 at-bats before his third-inning homer tied Game 4. He finished the NLDS 2-for-17 with a walk and four strikeouts. In the first two games, he chased 10 of the 21 pitches he saw outside the strike zone<\/p>\n

Merrill had one more hit and two more strikeouts in the same number of NLDS at-bats as Tatis.<\/p>\n

It really was a squandering of a mostly sensational postseason by the 34-year-old Machado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way Manny played this last month of baseball was pretty remarkable,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the best I\u2019ve ever seen Manny Machado play \u2014 the way he was playing defense, running the bases, swinging the bat, he was on another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is an unavoidable thought to wonder how many more of those big lifts Machado has in him.<\/p>\n

For all that can be said about how players like Samad Taylor, Luis Rengifo, Gavin Sheets and, especially, Ty France did for the Padres this season, nine-figure contracts are handed out to players a team expects to come up big in big moments.<\/p>\n

So the two cornerstone players in their primes have to be better. They have to be better this time of year.<\/p>\n

Because there is a lot to be commended about the Padres for what they did this season.<\/p>\n

It can often seem like a prerequisite for teams to talk about how people did not believe in them, how they were resilient and special and every other trite trope.<\/p>\n

This Padres team could say it all without any compunction.<\/p>\n

The Padres had a bunch of chances to implode or to simply play out the string. They were maddening, maybe. But their will could not be questioned.<\/p>\n

They got to the postseason largely on the strength of two excellent stretches \u2014 one in the season\u2019s first month and one in the final month \u2014 in which they were a combined 27 games over .500.<\/p>\n

They needed those surges because there were large swathes of the schedule in which they were unproductive.<\/p>\n

They always bounced back. That ability, they proudly stated, was part of their DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the best part of this,\u201d Machado said Wednesday night. \u201cYou know, the bright side of losing is (that) this year was special \u2014 just being in this clubhouse with these guys. And we won\u2019t ever have that moment again as a group. Those moments that we had throughout the year, where people counted us out, we were all struggling at the same time, things could have gone either way. And this group just got closer and closer and closer, and that was awesome to see. That was a first for me as being a part of a team that does that. I think that\u2019s why it stings even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with the postseason is that there is not much time to make a turnaround.<\/p>\n

The other times the Padres were left for dead \u2014 in May, in June, twice in July, at the beginning of September \u2014 they had runway.<\/p>\n

In October, there is only room for a launch or a crash.<\/p>\n

And the Padres\u2019 2026 season plummeted to earth on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot to be proud of this year,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cA lot to go home and say, \u2018Yeah, we did a pretty good job.\u2019 But also, we\u2019re not satisfied. We\u2019re not satisfied until we finally bring that championship to San Diego. But this year made us one step closer to that. \u2026 I think every experience you go through helps you and helps you grow and get better as you go. Hopefully we use it to our advantage \u2014 the good and the bad from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President of baseball operations A.J. Preller stood in a corner of the clubhouse as it neared midnight on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127,1696],"class_list":["post-490234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}