The San Diego Padres qualified for the National League wildcard playoffs. That’s shocking after the Padres’ star players started slow this season.
But a s 4-2 win over the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept. 24 clinched a wild card spot.
It marked a franchise record third consecutive playoff berth. The Pads have now qualified for the National League playoffs in five of the past seven seasons.
The Padres won 41 of their last 59 games — 28 of their last 37 home games — and went 18-6 in September in the race to the finish line to grabe the No. 4 seed in the NL palyoffs.
By contrast, in July the Friars endured the franchise’s longest losing streak in 13 years and were 11th in the National League standings. Fernando Tatis Jr. didn’t hit his first home run of the season until May 30. At the trade deadline, the Padres were rumored to move any of Mason Miller, Ty France, Michael King or Adrian Morejon.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller doubled down. He traded three of the organization’s top nine prospects and added Casey Mize and Robby Ray to the starting rotation: an area of weakness.
The Padres boasted the MLB’s best offense in September, averaging over five runs per game. Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, France and Tatis all finished with more than 20 home runs. Merrill and Tatis both batted .300 or better since the All Star break.
The starting rotation was revitalized at the deadline, and San Diego boasted the third best bullpen by ERA.
It all added up to a final 91-71 regalar season record and runner-up finish, nine games back, to the division champion Dodgers (100-62).
The Pads finished five games ahead of the third place Arizona Diamondbacks (86-76).
San Diego captured two of the final three games against Arizona at Petco Park Sept. 25-27.
The D-Backs won the first game, 11-7, to remain in the wildcard chase but the Friars won the last two games — 10-7 and 9-4 — to eliminate Arizona from the playoffs.
Machado hit a three-run home run in Saturday’s game while Gavin Sheets homered and Freddy Fermin drove in three runs in Sunday’s regular season finaler.
The Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies joined the Padres in the wildcard round.
In a change of scenery, the Pads hosted the Cubs in the best-of-three round in a bid to reverse last year’s wildcard series in which the Friars traveled to Chicago and lost two games to one to the Cubs.
After a tumultuous 2026 season, the Padres were in position to avenge that previous season exit with an 8-0 win in Tuesday’s playoff opener.
The wildcard series was to continue Wednesday with a third game, if necessary, on Thursday. The San Diego-Chicago series winner advances to play the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in the next round.
The Atlanta-Philadelphia winner meets the defending World Series champion Dodgers.
