The Brewers are playing the Rays in a World Series that opens Friday night at Milwaukee between two low-spending teams that have never won Major League Baseball’s ultimate prize.
The Padres, Mariners and Rockies are the other teams that have never raised the Commissioner’s Trophy.
“I think we all understand we have a few more steps to take,” general manager A.J. Preller said during a Zoom session with manager Craig Stammen and reporters last week. “Our ultimate goal is to be playing this time of year, on the big stage and in a World Series situation.”
In retrospect, the Padres acquitted themselves quite well in their four-game loss to the pennant-winning Brewers in their National League Division Series. Much better than the two-time defending champion Dodgers did in the recently-concluded NL Championship Series.
So close
The team lost by an aggregate of three runs. And they had their chances. During the:
- Ninth inning of Game 1, Ty France hit a monster shot off the roof rafters of American Family Field that could have been a game-winning homer.
- Ninth inning of Game 2, Mason Miller was asked to complete a six-out save for the first time all season and imploded by walking the bases loaded. The three Brewers didn’t swing at any of the 17 pitches Miller threw to them.
- Eighth inning of Game 4, Brewers center-fielder Garrett Mitchell went up above the short wall at Petco Park and grabbed an apparent Manny Machado game-tying homer before it landed among the fans in the bleachers.
Meanwhile, though the Dodgers led the Brewers early in all four of their NLCS games, they were swept by an aggregate of 10 runs. The Dodgers hit .185 in the series with one homer, a three-run shot in Game 4 by an ailing Shohei Ohtani, who hit .231 (3-for-13) vs. the Brewers and .192 (5-for-26) in the postseason.
The Padres beat the Cubs in two games at Petco during a lopsided Wild Card Series. They were 19-3 from Sept. 6 until they departed for Milwaukee.
“We played a very good home playoff series and then a very competitive series against the Brewers,” Preller said. “It’s a game of inches and that series was defined by that.”
Like the Padres, the Brewers were a 1969 expansion franchise. They joined the American League as the Seattle Pilots and went bankrupt, skipping to Milwaukee in 1970. The Brewers have only played in the World Series once, losing to the Cardinals in 1982. They play in baseball’s smallest market by population, 33rd overall, and 35th in media size.
The Padres have played in the World Series twice, losing in 1984 and 1998, and play in the 17th largest market by population, but 28th by media size.
Roster building
They both go about building their clubs in different ways. The Brewers don’t sign free agents but build through their own system and trades. The Padres’ core players – Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts – were obtained via trade or signed as high-priced free agents.
“We have to be smarter,” Brewers owner Mark Attanascio said last year.
Some financial comparisons for the season are fascinating.
The Dodgers spent an MLB-high $433 million, the No. 8 Padres $264.6 million, the No. 19 Brewers $154.7 million and the No. 27 Rays $113.2 million. All these figures are for luxury tax purposes and are compiled by Spotrac.
The Padres, who were vanquished by Milwaukee, outspent the Brewers by $109.9 million. They pretty much spent the same as the Rays and Brewers combined, spending like a large market team.
But to no avail, save for the fact that fans are coming in droves to Petco Park, which had a third-in-the-league regular season average attendance of 41,321 per game behind the Dodgers and Yankees, and an overall attendance of 3,347,081, second behind the Dodgers.
Including the four playoff games, the Padres sold out 70 home games. The Padres, with 91 wins, won 90 or more games for the third consecutive season and sixth time in club history. People definitely like the product. The Brewers had the best record in MLB for the second consecutive season and drew 2.8 million at home, 11th in the league.
“There’s a sentiment, a commitment to putting a championship on the field,” Preller said. “We have a great organization. We have a great fanbase. And the idea is that every year we’re looking to bring a team that’s super exciting to the city of San Diego.”
There are many ways to do that, Preller added.
“You can do that by investing in people, by signing free agent players. You can do that showing loving care to the current group you have here. Our focus every day is how do you bring an enjoyable experience at Petco so when they look to every team, when they look to every season, they’re proud of the team and do we have a chance to win a championship?
“How do we get there? That’s always different every single offseason.”
Salary cap conflict
This offseason will be tricky. With collective bargaining negotiations going nowhere, the players and owners are stuck between a rock and a salary cap. Both sides have fixed positions, and a lockout of the players seems academic on Dec. 1. After that, no trades, free agent signings or business of any kind can be conducted until a deal is reached.
The fact is that eight of the top 10 payroll teams made the playoffs, save for the No 2 spending Mets and No. 5 then-defending American League champion Blue Jays. But it’s the World Series, and all of those eight have been eliminated.
The final four consisted of the low-spending Brewers, Rays, Cleveland and the Dodgers, who as noted above, didn’t win an NLCS game.
Asked if this might alter the owners’ negotiating position, MLB said it changes nothing.
Bruce Meyer, the executive director of the MLB Players Association, countered that this year’s results “aren’t going to affect the owners’ longstanding desire for a system that suppresses salaries and guarantees the players’ opposition to such a system.”
To be sure, whichever club wins the World Series, it will be the first lower-spending team to do so since the Royals defeated the Mets in 2015.
Key decisions ahead
This scenario creates a different dynamic for the Padres who must deal with all these issues between the end of the World Series and the Dec. 1 drop dead date:
- In the starting rotation, Michael King can opt out of his deal.
- The Padres have the same option with Nick Pivetta’s contract.
- Robbie Ray and Casey Mize, both obtained at the trade deadline, are free agents.
- So is Walker Buehler, a non-roster invitee in camp who played his way onto the club for $1.5 million this past season.
The rest of the team has plenty of open questions, too. Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam, Ty France and Austin Hayes are also free agents. Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta have opt-outs. Miguel Andujar has a mutual option with the team.
It could be a tumult heading into the general managers’ meetings in Las Vegas from Nov. 9-12.
“It’s hard to tell,” Preller said. “Right after the World Series, the first week of November, you can start having conversations with our players and their agents, plus other general managers. I think we’ll get a better sense of what this looks like. The biggest thing we’re focusing on is what our strategies will be.”
