The San Diego Padres had to survive two grueling stretches to make their recent run for a wild-card spot.
The San Diego Padres’ season looked decidedly grim as recently as a month ago, but the Padres have made a remarkable climb in the standings as they’ve jumped over six teams to their current spot in the standings, which has them holding the second wild-card spot by a narrow half-game margin.
The Padres were 5.5 games out of a playoff spot and fading fast back on July 10, but they just swept a team with one of the best records in baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers, as outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. noted.
“We have come together as a ball club, as a team,” Tatis said in a piece written by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “Obviously, a sweep -- against a team like this -- it keeps boosting our confidence all the way up.”
The game has changed now, though, as second baseman Jake Cronenworth noted.
“Obviously, it was kind of a race to the trade deadline for us,” he said. “All the pressure on us to go out and perform and let A.J. do what he does. Now it’s that 40-game sprint.”
The climb involved playing 17 games in 17 days before the All-Star break, then adding 26 more in 27 days, according to Cassavell. Those were two make-or-break stretches, and somehow the Padres were able to break through.
“It’s actually invigorated us,” said manager Craig Stammen. “It’s shown us we can handle anything.”
GM A.J. Preller played a key role in all this as well. He does the personnel side as if the Padres were a big market team, and there’s no such thing as a sell-off when Preller is in charge.
“We’re trying to win,” Preller said afterward. “We don’t apologize for it. We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason, and do it year after year.”
That mindset leaked into the clubhouse when players realized that their effort wouldn’t go for naught, as both starter Walker Buehler and Cronenworth spoke out about it.
“The front office’s approach to the Deadline does nothing but help us,” said Walker Buehler.
“After that, it’s like, man, this is the group we’ve got,” Cronenworth said. “Let’s go out and take it.”
Now the Padres are on the road again to take on the Cleveland Guardians as they try to do just that. The road ahead won’t be easy, and they’ve put their back-and-forth battle with the Arizona Diamondbacks behind them, according to center fielder Jackson Merrill.
“When the time comes to play the Diamondbacks again, we’ll look at that,” Merrill said. “But not right now. We’re focused on the Guardians. And on getting after it every day.”
