Padres finish regular season in Phoenix, await opponent; Petco playoff start times set – San Diego Union-Tribune

PHOENIX – Now the Padres wait.

At some point, probably late Monday night, a plane carrying the Mets or Braves will arrive in San Diego. Then, early Tuesday night, the Padres begin their wild-card series against whichever team.

These matters have generally been decided by now.

But an 11-2 Diamondbacks victory over the Padres on Sunday sent Major League Baseball's regular season into overtime and left the Padres in limbo.

The Padres will turn their attention to Monday's doubleheader between the Mets and Braves. They would prefer to avoid facing Braves left-hander Chris Sale. If you remember, the Mets have presented some matchup challenges this season.

But actually Jurickson Profar summed up their interest like this:

“Not really,” he said. “As a team we have to do what we did. It doesn't matter who we play. … We have a team. And we know that if we do what we need to do, we’ll be in a pretty good position against any team.”

Consciously focusing on yourself has been one of the cornerstones of your approach this season.

“We'll be ready on Tuesday and we'll be prepared and eager and hungry to compete,” manager Mike Shildt said. “… We will train and as soon as the final is counted and we are told who we are playing, we will prepare for the competition.”

What the Padres know is that they are in the playoffs. They'll be at home (or maybe already at Petco Park) when they find out whether the Braves or Mets come to town.

Whoever it is, Games 1 and 2 are scheduled to begin at 5:38 p.m. PT on Tuesday and Wednesday. If necessary, Game 3 would begin at 4:08 p.m. PT on Thursday. Games 1 and 3 are scheduled to be televised on ESPN. Game 2 is on ESPN2.

The Diamondbacks are not traveling to San Diego. They may not be going anywhere.

They may have just secured a stay Sunday by finishing with a record of 89-73, while the Braves lost to the Royals and the Mets beat the Brewers, effectively creating a three-way tie for the final two National League playoff spots emerged.

The Braves and Mets, both 88-72, had their last two games postponed last week because of rain. Depending on Monday's results, one or both will now leave Atlanta headed for a playoff series.

The Diamondbacks need one of these teams to win twice, as they lost the season series to both and would be eliminated if the Braves and Mets reached 89 wins.

With at least a split Monday, the Braves will secure the No. 5 seed since they won the season series. The Mets must sweep to be the fifth seed. The No. 5 seed plays the fourth-seeded Padres. The No. 6 seed will board a flight to Milwaukee to play the third-seeded Brewers.

The Padres lost five of seven games against the Mets this season and won four of seven games against the Braves.

They won seven of their 13 meetings with the Diamondbacks.

While the players on the field were certainly trying to win Sunday's game, there simply weren't many of those who would have been there if the result had mattered to the Padres.

Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Profar all sat out Sunday as the Padres rested their starters for the second straight game after taking over hosting duties in the wild-card series on Friday. Luis Arraez was removed from the game in the sixth inning after he scored his 200th hit of the season and secured the National League batting title.

A day after the Padres scored five runs in the ninth inning to beat the Diamondbacks 5-0, they took a 1-0 lead through three innings on Sunday.

The Diamondbacks gave up six runs to Martín Pérez in the fourth inning and added a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh and two in the eighth inning against Matt Waldron.

Waldron was called up for most of the game, just as Randy Vásquez was called up for Saturday's starting lineup. Those moves reflected the weekend's main goal of resting those playing in the postseason.

“Mission accomplished,” Shildt said. “…The mission of getting ready for Tuesday was accomplished by making sure the guys stayed sharp enough to make their shots, but not keeping the guys on their toes. And being able to rest our bullpen. They carried the mail quite often. So we are in a good position to move forward on Tuesday.”

Originally published: September 29, 2024 at 3:10 p.m