Latest Report Says San Diego Padres Will Be "Scary" Playoff Opponents

The San Diego Padres officially joined the 2026 MLB playoff party Thursday night with a 4-2 defeat of the Los Angeles Dodgers that guaranteed their inclusion in the six-team National League field as a wild-card entrant.

Rookie catcher Ethan Salas was the catalyst in Thursday's crucial win, breaking up Dodger pitcher Tyler Glasnow's no-hitter in the sixth inning before scoring the game's first run on Dustin Harris' sacrifice fly. Salas then made it 3-0 in the seventh with an RBI single before Fernando Tatis Jr.'s run-scoring hit made it 4-0. There were some anxious moments in the ninth as Shohei Ohtani's RBI double sliced the deficit in half, but Mason Miller induced a groundout from Mookie Betts to end the game and clinch San Diego's third consecutive postseason trip, a franchise first.

While we now know the Padres will be in the playoffs, we still await final clarity on who or where they will play. The Chicago Cubs also clinched a wild-card spot on Thursday, but the Philadelphia Phillies lost and the Arizona Diamondbacks won, meaning the results for those two squads in their final three games of the season will determine who the final NL playoff participant will be. As of Friday morning, the Phillies held a two-game lead over the D-backs with their remaining three games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Padres enter Friday in the top wild-card position, one game ahead of the Cubs, who face the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to close the season, and two in front of Philadelphia.

San Diego hosts Arizona for three season-ending games beginning Friday, so they will have a say in both who earns the final playoff spot and where they will open the postseason. A sweep means San Diego will host the three wild-card games against the Cubs or Phillies. If the Padres end up tied with the Cubs or Phillies, or both, they know they will be on the road courtesy of their 1-5 and 0-6 respective records against those squads this season and 1-11 cumulative mark. Finish as the No. 5 seed and they will go to Chicago or Philadelphia. Finish No. 6 and they will travel east to face off with the NL East champion Atlanta Braves. 

Even though there is still some murkiness remaining to be cleared up in the playoff picture, one outlet has tabbed the Padres as one of a handful of teams no one will want to play when the playoffs commence on Sept. 29.

In a piece posted on Sept. 23, MLB.com writer Travis Sawchik called the Padres "the wild card among wild cards," adding, "If you believe in timing and momentum, believe in the Padres."

Indeed, no team will enter the playoffs hotter as San Diego has gone 16-5 in September, including wins in 15 of their last 17 games.

There are a number of reasons for this hot streak, with Sawchik highlighting several in his piece. Offensively, right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. has been one of the best players in the game since the calendar turned to June, with 25 home runs, including 10 in the last month; center fielder Jackson Merrill continues his ascension toward stardom with 26 homers and 86 RBI; and first baseman Ty France, who began his career in San Diego in 2019 and is now playing for his fifth team since 2024, has broken out with 21 homers after hitting a combined 20 in the previous two seasons.

On the mound, Nick Pivetta has returned from a five-month stint on the IL to go 2-0 in four September starts - all of them Padres wins - with a 1.45 ERA and Michael King has gone 4-1 since Aug. 31 to up his overall record to 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA.

But we all know the biggest thing that makes the Padres a "scary" team: their three-headed monster lockdown bullpen featuring closer Miller and setup men Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez.

"If they can hand a lead over to the bullpen it's lights out with Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller closing out games," concluded Sawchik. "The Padres own the end game, and at no time does that matter more than in October."