SAN DIEGO — It had been this way all season, and it was again Wednesday at Petco Park. It did not matter that it was late on a school afternoon and then early on a school night. The 53rd sellout crowd of the year packed the stands to experience one of the best atmospheres in the sport. October is almost here, but there are no guarantees. Everyone wanted to witness heightened competition — a contender hosting a fellow contender — at least one last time in 2024.
But this felt like a prelude, not a potential farewell.
“I mean, we’ve been playing postseason baseball for the last month,” San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado said after a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros. “Every game counts, man. It’s fun, man.
“This is a team we’re gonna be playing. We’re gonna see them again.”
It was a bold statement. The only way that would be possible is a rematch in the World Series. Then again, the Padres’ magic number is down to five. They can clinch a postseason berth as soon as Saturday. And they have spent the last month — more, really — backing up their words with consistent glimpses of championship-caliber baseball.
After a pair of tightly contested, occasionally chaotic games, Wednesday brought a series decider and another taut thriller. Dylan Cease took a perfect game into the sixth. Framber Valdez, as good a lefty starter as the Padres have faced this season, virtually kept pace amid a pitching duel. Machado, the National League’s most prolific run producer since the All-Star break, broke a scoreless tie in the sixth with his second home run in two days. The crowd erupted, of course.
It proved a mere appetizer for the bottom of the eighth. With Valdez out of the game, Fernando Tatis Jr., Machado and Donovan Solano combined to hit San Diego’s first trio of back-to-back-to-back homers in 27 years.
“That was awesome,” Cease said. “Talk about kind of getting some breathing room right there.”
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK pic.twitter.com/ynfNVyzFHj
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 19, 2024
Cease, making his final regular-season start of 2024, finished two outs shy of a complete-game shutout. He looked ready to start a potential Game 1 in the playoffs. He held an aggressive, contact-prone Astros offense to two singles and no walks. Afterward, he described the performance as the third-best of his career.
The other two were complete games, one a near-no-hitter and the other his July 25 no-hitter.
“In terms of execution, arguably this was maybe a little bit better, but that one was just, you know, a no-hitter,” Cease said. “It’s special.”
The Padres have been able to use that word regularly. Since Sept. 1, their once-iffy rotation has pitched to a 2.44 ERA. “Pun intended — it starts with the starters,” manager Mike Shildt said. “The whole group’s been tremendous.” And on offense, it has started with a familiar fixture.
Since July 27, Machado has hit .323. His 16 home runs in that span are tied for the second-most in the majors. No one has supplied more RBIs than his 50.
He has gone on prolonged tears like this throughout his career. This one has coincided with one of San Diego’s best second halves in team history. The Padres are 27-1 this season when Machado drives in more than one run. The lone loss came in Tuesday’s one-run defeat, before Machado again propelled the lineup on Wednesday.
“This is Manny Machado, this is what he does, and to see him go about his business the way he’s doing, it’s just beautiful,” Tatis said. “And especially in this moment, that’s Manny Machado.”
“He’s showing everybody the player he is, and that’s an elite player,” Shildt said. “Doesn’t feel like he’s got to do it all. But he’s clearly doing plenty.”
The Padres will rest Thursday before welcoming the historically bad Chicago White Sox for this year’s final regular-season series at Petco Park. The matchup is lopsided on paper, but those games will matter, too.
The Padres are 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, with a three-game visit to Dodger Stadium scheduled next week. San Diego has a 2 1/2-game lead over Arizona in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot, and the two teams will meet in Phoenix to conclude the regular season. For the Padres, finishing ahead of at least the Diamondbacks would ensure postseason baseball returns to Petco Park.
“Everybody saw the level of this (Astros) series, the games that we played, how everybody was just pushing to the last limit,” Tatis said. “This is how it’s going to be in the playoffs. That’s what we’re going for.”
In a sense, the Padres already have been living it. There are no guarantees, but now they will try to replicate this atmosphere for another six weeks.
“This home crowd has deserved everything,” Machado said, “and that’s what our goal is, to try to bring a championship to the city.”
(Photo of Manny Machado: Orlando Ramirez / Imagn Images)
