SAN DIEGO -- The Padres are set to welcome Mason Miller back to their bullpen, and they might have Adrian Morejon available as well for Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night at Petco Park.
Miller, San Diego’s superstar closer, will be available after he was activated from the paternity list Wednesday afternoon. His wife, Jordan, gave birth to a boy, Lincoln, on Tuesday night, during the Padres’ 4-3 Game 3 victory over Milwaukee.
“Everything went really well -- baby’s healthy, Jordan is doing really well,” Miller said. “So I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Everybody says it changes your life. It definitely does.
“You never really get to choose when it’s going to happen. I really hoped that it was going to be a time when we were home. Ideally an off-day, but I’m just happy that I was able to be there.”
Miller rejoined the Padres on Wednesday, and went through his usual pregame routine. He’ll be fully available for Game 4.
The status of Morejon is a bit more uncertain, while he deals with left shoulder fatigue. He played catch along with the rest of the Padres' relievers. According to manager Craig Stammen, it’s a distinct possibility Morejon returns in Game 4, with the Padres trailing two games to one and facing elimination.
“He was feeling a little bit better postgame last night,” Stammen said. “So we're hopeful today that he'll be available.”
Neither Miller nor Morejon was available in the Padres’ Game 3 victory Tuesday -- during which starter Michael King covered the final two innings for an epic six-out save.
The Millers did not have the game on. Mason said he was only informed of the result by a midwife, who happened to be a Padres fan. When he heard the score, he recalled asking a question:
“Who got the save, Morejon?”
He was informed it was King.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Miller said. “At that point, I was not in a state to process it. But, yeah, Michael is a phenomenal teammate, phenomenal person, phenomenal pitcher. So, seeing what he was able to do yesterday, you just tip your hat, man.”
Jordan had gone into labor Tuesday afternoon before first pitch, an eventuality the Padres had long been planning for. Miller was placed on the paternity list, replaced by left-hander Wandy Peralta. When he was activated a day later, Peralta was removed from the roster.
Miller posted a 1.67 ERA in 70 innings this season, while notching 129 strikeouts, the most for a reliever in franchise history. It wasn't easy, but the Padres made it work without him for a day.
“We have his back,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said after Tuesday’s win. “He's been with us. He's been impressive. He's been all the good details that you can put out there. Let him have his family time right now.”
“I know it’s a hard thing to balance,” said Ty France, who was on the paternity list in September. “But he’s doing the right thing.”
“Everybody has a different situation, a different way of looking at it, a different expectation,” Stammen said. “There's always health implications that go with it, and the number one thing is you want a healthy baby and you want Mom and Dad to enjoy it. I think we've been able to accomplish that with the two births we’ve had here in October.”
Right-hander Walker Buehler began the series on the paternity list and was activated ahead of Game 3. Buehler is slated to start Game 4, his first appearance of the postseason (and his first since closing the 2024 World Series).
Morejon pitched two innings during Game 1 and was unavailable in Game 2, though that didn’t raise too many eyebrows at the time. Miller was tasked with a six-out save in Milwaukee, but only recorded the first five, blowing that save on Jackson Chourio’s walk-off two-run single.
It wasn’t until Tuesday’s Game 3 that questions about Morejon’s health arose. He was in the Padres’ bullpen, but never got loose, with King instead tasked with the eighth and ninth innings.
Afterward, Stammen noted that Morejon had been dealing with “some stickiness” in his left shoulder -- but that the Padres were hopeful he’d be back this series. Morejon, who was an All-Star in 2025 and notched a 2.83 ERA in 86 innings this season, played catch Tuesday and even threw off the mound. But the Padres were simply staying away from him in Game 3.
“Number one, what we've done with all the pitchers and what we do as an organization is we try to take care of them,” Stammen said. “We try to take care of Adrian as best we can.”
That means the Padres expect Morejon to go through his usual pregame routine Wednesday before they decide on any plan.
“Kind of the same way we do throughout the regular season,” Stammen said. “Bring him in, trainers check him out, go out and play catch, see how he feels, if he wants to throw off the mound or not. Reevaluate what that looks like, how he feels, talk with him one-on-one, talk to the group, and then [we’ll] decide what our pitching plan is for the game.”
Could that pitching plan again include King? After he threw 72 pitches in Sunday’s Game 2 and 40 more in Tuesday’s Game 3? According to Stammen, the answer is yes.
“We're at that point in the season where it's everybody, whatever they can give us, we're going to use,” he said. “There is no tomorrow if we don't win tonight.”
Still, the Padres would almost certainly prefer to stay away from King, if possible. With Miller back in the mix -- and potentially Morejon as well -- they might be able to do so.