The San Diego Padres clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday with a win against the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them the fourth National League team to secure their place in October. The Padres, who missed out on the postseason last year, will be making their third trip in the last five years -- prior to 2020, San Diego had not made a playoff appearance since 2006.
The Padres secured their 4-2 win on Tuesday by turning a game-ending triple play, with third baseman Manny Machado recording a force out before firing to second, where second baseman Jake Cronenworth was able to complete the transaction to first baseman Donovan Solano in time to put a bow on the game and notch the Padres' first triple play since 2010. Take a look:
GAME-ENDING TRIPLE PLAY TO CLINCH POSTSEASON BERTH pic.twitter.com/w2VmNQKWHw
— MLB (@MLB) September 25, 2024
It should be noted that the Padres remain alive in the NL West race. They now sit just two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers with two more games left in this series. The Padres are, nevertheless, now assured the season series against the Dodgers, meaning that they would be awarded the tiebreaker in the event that one is needed. (MLB did away with Game 163s when it expanded the postseason a few years ago.)
The Padres entered May with a losing record, and finished the first half one game above .500. They've since hit the boosters, going 40-17 since the All-Star break. For reference, that prorates to a 114-win pace over the course of 162 games. San Diego's top performers this season (as judged by Baseball Reference's Wins Above Replacement metric) were mostly not on the roster last year, including rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill and starting pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King. Outfielder Jurickson Profar, who did appear in 14 games with San Diego last year, has been a revelation since inking a one-year pact worth $1 million in February.
The Padres were without stars like Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Fernando Tatis Jr. for large swaths of the season. As such, they have to be thrilled with not just making the postseason, but having an opportunity to win their first NL West crown since 2006.
