The San Diego Padres clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday with a win in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them the fourth Nationwide League crew to safe their place in October. The Padres, who missed out on the postseason final 12 months, might be making their third journey within the final 5 years — previous to 2020, San Diego had not made a playoff look 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 pressure out earlier than firing to second, the place second baseman Jake Cronenworth was capable of full the transaction to first baseman Donovan Solano in time to place a bow on the sport and notch the Padres’ first triple play since 2010. Have a look:
It ought to be famous that the Padres stay alive within the NL West race. They now sit simply two video games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers with two extra video games left on this sequence. The Padres are, however, now assured the season sequence in opposition to the Dodgers, that means that they might be awarded the tiebreaker within the occasion that one is required. (MLB did away with Recreation 163s when it expanded the postseason a number of years in the past.)
The Padres entered Might with a shedding document, and completed the primary half one sport above .500. They’ve since hit the boosters, going 40-17 because the All-Star break. For reference, that prorates to a 114-win tempo over the course of 162 video games. San Diego’s prime performers this season (as judged by Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Substitute metric) have been principally not on the roster final 12 months, together with rookie heart fielder Jackson Merrill and beginning pitchers Dylan Stop and Michael King. Outfielder Jurickson Profar, who did seem in 14 video games with San Diego final 12 months, has been a revelation since inking a one-year pact value $1 million in February.
The Padres have been with out stars like Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Fernando Tatis Jr. for big swaths of the season. As such, they need to be thrilled with not simply making the postseason, however having a possibility to win their first NL West crown since 2006.
