As the Padres wait to pop the champagne, a hair away from the playoffs, a harsh reality has taken shape that extends beyond the division and the National League.
No one wants to face this team in the playoffs.
It’s a disaster, from the back on the ball, from the attack to the bench. Since the All-Star break, no baseball team has had that feat.
Preferred schedule appointments include a colonoscopy or an IRS audit. They win close games, as they did in their 4-2 comeback Sunday against the slumping White Sox at Petco Park. They win when they are driven. They win away. They win when Aquarius aligns with the Harvest Moon.
San Diego has found a deep balance, a team that can do everything a baseball game demands. Heading into Sunday’s final home game, the Padres’ starting pitchers had a 3.32 ERA since the break, the fourth-best mark in the game. The forward averaged 5.13 points per game during that span, better than all but three teams.
They are 10-2 in extra innings. Their road record (45-30) is second only to the Yankees.
Although they trailed the White Sox in the eighth, a point where they are 10-56 this season, they were able to come out on top and score three runs and their 90th win of a booming season. “It was only fitting,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, “that Gray’s team came back.” “These Padres are everything the 2023 version — despite stars like Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Josh Hader and the salary expectations that came with them — couldn’t be.
He took more than $90 million off the books, saw a generational player become one of the biggest things in the Big Apple, and saw three-fifths of the rotation disappear.
So they built a better trap.
“We were never out. We were never down,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., whose 389-foot drive to left hit the eighth. “…We’ve shown that all year. What we’ve done here is really special.
“We have the talent to go all the way, but it’s time to take care of business one day at a time.”
The Padres found an All-Star on the free agent scrap heap in left fielder Jurickson Profar. They took a 20-year-old center fielder in Jackson Merrill and watched him blossom into the most dynamic rookie in the National League.
In the Soto trade, they took advantage of a critical pitcher with question marks in Michael King. They made fantastic moves to sign defending champion Luis Arraez and starter Dylan Cease early in the season, as well as stalwarts Tanner Scott and Jason Adam at the deadline.
They built a strong bench with now starters Donovan Solano and David Peralta.
And because of all this, I am a headache to deal with.