The Padres’ season ended in a 3-1 loss Wednesday night, after Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell reached above the Petco Park fence in the eighth inning to rob Manny Machado of a potentially game-tying, two-run home run.
“This is the worst feeling of the year,” closer Mason Miller said. “It’s hard to really put into words.”
Let’s try.
Once again, like every year since 1998, the Padres won’t be going to the World Series. Generations of fans have never seen it, and that won’t change this year.
The Brewers won the best-of-five National League Division Series in four games, with each of the three Padres losses carrying their own special kind of heartbreak.
The Padres will now begin an offseason that could see a major restructuring under new owners Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Their mantra after defeating the Cubs in a two-game Wild Card Series was, “Why not us?”
After the season-ended loss, they extended that optimism into the future.
“If not this year, then next,” Feliciano said in the din of the somber postgame clubhouse. “Or the year after that.”
There’s a lot of work to do. The Padres enter the offseason with significant pitching issues after they dragged into the final out with a staff in shambles.
In the finale, Walter Buehler started and was yanked one batter into the fourth inning. He was followed by Robbie Ray, Bradgley Rodriguez, Yuki Matsui, Jason Adam, Miller and Joe Musgrove, who closed the season with two solid innings after a season of rehab on his right elbow filled with setbacks. Adrian Morejon warmed up, but never came out of the bullpen for the third consecutive game because of a balky left shoulder.
Musgrove was encouraged by his seven-batter outing.
“I’ve got some personal feelings apart from the team,” Musgrove said. “I wish I could have been around for more of it. The way I’m feeling and how I’m pitching now you never know. It’s heartbreaking to be over. I kind of feel like I’m just getting started.”
The Padres pitchers held the Brewers to three runs despite 10 hits, but the Padres offense went sideways. They had three hits, with two coming in the first inning. Fernando Tatis homer to lead off the third, tying the score at 1-1. Milwaukee set down the final 24 San Diego batters without another hit.
“There’s always issues in baseball,” Feliciano said. If it’s not pitching issues, it’s hitting issues.”
One late-inning swing of the bat encapsulated the team’s offensive frustrations. With a runner on first and one out in the eighth inning, Machado skied a big fly to center field that had game-tying homer written all over it. Mitchell went up over the short wall and snatched it from the waiting arms of Padres fans.
It was the end, the moment everyone knew the Padres’ postseason run was coming to an end.
“The game is a matter of inches,” said Machado, who ripped his helmet off his head and lifted his arms in frustration as he walked from the plate. “You know how baseball is.”
Back to the pitching. Miller blew a save in Game 2 at Milwaukee on Sunday when he walked the bases loaded and allowed a game-winning Jackson Chourio two-run single. He then landed on the paternity list and missed Game 3 on Tuesday.
In Game 4, Padres manager Craig Stammen was so desperate to keep the game close that he went to his star closer in the seventh inning. Miller was again shaky, allowing a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases, but this time Cooper Pratt flew out to center to end the inning without any damage.
“They couldn’t save me for the ninth inning at that point,” Miller said. “I had to help where I could.”
Musgrove missed two full seasons after Tommy John surgery during the 2024 playoffs. He made his season debut in the ninth inning of an 8-0 Padres victory in Game 1 of their Wild Card Series against the Cubs. In that one he loaded the bases with one out and pitched out of it.
He looked much better Wednesday, just in time for the season to end. Musgrove is the only current Padres starting pitcher definitively under contract for 2027, when he’ll be in his last of a five-year deal that would earn him $20 million.
Michael King can opt out of his deal. The Padres have the same option with Nick Pivetta’s contract. Ray and Casey Mize, both obtained at the trade deadline, are free agents. So is Buehler, who was a non-roster invitee in camp and played his way onto the club for $1.5 million this season.
The rest of the team has plenty of open questions too. Morejon, Adam, Ty France and Austin Hayes are also free agents. Matsui and Wandy Peralta have opt-outs. Miguel Andujar has a mutual option with the team.
The team could look totally different next season — if there is a season, with the threat of an owner-threatened lockout on Dec. 1 looming.
“I’m hoping Mike comes back,” Musgrove said, of King, who had an impressive display in the playoffs. “He’s shown what he’s worth and how valuable he is. It’s up to our new owners how much they want to cough up to keep him. He deserves it. He deserves a lot more than he’s being paid here [$25 million a year]. Every player deserves to get paid what they’re owed.”
It’s the way of the baseball season. When the competition ends, the offseason begins. And for the Padres, in the wake, of another defeat it promises to be a very long offseason.
