Padres await playoff foe: 'In a good spot'

PHOENIX -- The Padres finished their regular season on Sunday afternoon, then boarded a flight home to San Diego, where they’ll host a best-of-three National League Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night. They still do not know who they’ll be playing.

And maybe that’s not the worst thing?

San Diego’s 11-2 loss to the Diamondbacks -- paired with results elsewhere -- means the Braves and Mets will play a doubleheader Monday to determine the final two spots in the NL playoff picture.

• Doubleheader to decide final two NL Wild Card spots

The Padres have secured the league’s top Wild Card spot. Their opponent will be determined by the doubleheader. Though it’s possible the Diamondbacks can still reach the postseason, they’re no longer a candidate to play the Padres in the first round, leaving these two scenarios in play for San Diego:

• If the Mets sweep the doubleheader, the Padres will play the Mets.
• Any other outcome, the Padres will play the Braves.

“I’m excited as hell to watch this doubleheader tomorrow,” said Jackson Merrill, who put the finishing touches on his National League Rookie of the Year case on Sunday. “I know we lost today, and my main goal is winning everyday. Obviously, I wish we would’ve won.

“But now, having all of them tied and tomorrow is very important to everybody, I think that’s really good. I think it’s good for baseball. I think it’s good for us.”

He’s not wrong on either front. Whichever team the Padres play in the Wild Card Series will almost certainly have expended some of its top arms to clinch a place in the postseason. The status of Braves ace Chris Sale is particularly intriguing. In a short series, the Padres would love to avoid facing the NL Cy Young favorite.

Then again, that’s not exactly where their focus is.

“We just need to do us,” said left fielder Jurickson Profar. “Whoever we're playing, we're playing.”

With the loss Sunday, the Padres completed the 2024 regular season with a record of 93-69, the second-best mark in franchise history, trailing only the 1998 team, which won 98 games. En route to those 93 wins, San Diego relied on the entirety of its 40-man roster.

Manny Machado wasn’t truly healthy until mid-June. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts both missed a significant chunk of the season with injuries. Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish were absent from the rotation for several months.

• Arraez all but sews up third straight batting title

So it was fitting, then, that the Padres essentially spent their weekend paying homage to the depth pieces that helped get them across the finish line. They rested a number of their regulars, handing starts to all of their bench players.

Randy Vásquez and Matt Waldron -- once key cogs in the San Diego rotation -- each rejoined the team this weekend. Vásquez pitched six innings of one-hit ball on Saturday. A day later, he was replaced by Waldron, who covered four innings in relief.

“Matty’s a big reason why we’re moving forward,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He took innings, took the ball, and pitched very successfully and fortified our rotation when the rotation was in flux, with Joe and Yu. He did a tremendous job. It was fitting that he was able to come in and pitch today.”

Those innings served the Padres well in two capacities. They were able to rest the bullpen, which they’d ridden hard for most of September. And they’ll be able to set their Wild Card Series rotation however they choose.

“The mission, to get ready for Tuesday, was accomplished,” Shildt said. “In making sure guys stayed sharp enough to get their at-bats, but keeping guys off their feet, being able to rest our bullpen that carried the mail quite a bit -- we’re in a good spot to get ready for Tuesday.”