The San Diego Padres will rely on right-hander Mason Miller to be the lockdown closer he's more than capable of being after losing Robert Suarez to the Atlanta Braves.
The San Diego Padres are coming off its second consecutive 90-win season and playoff berth as the franchise embarks on its first World Series championship in franchise history.
The Padres won’t be taken into battle by the manager who led them over the past two seasons, though. Manager Mike Shildt retired from managing in a shocking move after San Diego lost to the Chicago Cubs in the National League Wild Card Series and was hired by the Baltimore Orioles in November as an “upper-level minor league coordinator of instruction,” leaving the door open for former Padres pitcher Craig Stammen to be the club’s next manager.
Besides manager and losing ace right-hander Dylan Cease to the Toronto Blue Jays and righty closer Robert Suarez to the Atlanta Braves in free agency, the Padres didn’t make too many changes.
If the Padres didn’t have Mason Miller, the right-handed flamethrowing sensation who was outstanding for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, it would probably be in trouble without the NL’s saves leader from 2025. With Suarez closing the door in the ninth inning, Miller was essentially acquired to be the league’s best setup man (only three save opportunities in 22 games with San Diego).
Miller now gets the opportunity to be the guy for a playoff team, and if he does what he did in his 22 appearances over a full season (0.77 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 45-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio), he has a great chance at being NL Reliever of the Year and the saves leader in 2026.
57 MLB.com staff members voted on who will lead Major League Baseball in several stats for each league in 2026 and Miller was voted to be the runner-up to Los Angeles Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz in saves.
“Miller is simply overpowering,” Manny Randhawa wrote Sunday. “With a four-seam fastball that averaged 101.2 mph last year, along with a devastating slider, the right-hander held opponents to a .139 batting average against him in 2025.
“He struck out an incredible 44.4% of hitters he faced, and his whiff rate was 45.2%. The word ‘unfair’ comes to mind often when he’s on the mound because he’s just that good.”
Miller throws gas and has a nasty slider to go with it. He truly is incredible to watch and has the stuff to be a dominant reliever for years to come. The Padres had to pay a huge price to get him from the Athletics, but it was worth it.
Another Padre received votes to lead a stat in 2026 as well; Star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was a vote-getter for home runs, which comes as a bit of a surprise considering he hasn’t hit more than 25 homers in a season since he hit 42 in 2021.
The Padres should have another solid season on the shoulders of Miller and Tatis, but it remains to be seen if the team can win 90 games again with a thin starting rotation.