Padres Playoff Berth Sealed: San Diego Beats Dodgers 4-2

The San Diego Padres are going back to October, and they punched their ticket in the one place that stings Dodgers fans the most. On Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Padres beat the Dodgers four to two, and the Padres playoff berth for a third straight season is official. It is the first time in franchise history that San Diego has reached the postseason in three consecutive years, Reuters reported.

The hero was Dustin Harris, whose sacrifice fly in the sixth inning drove in the go-ahead run and finally cracked Tyler Glasnow, who had carried a no-hitter into the frame, according to Reuters. From there the Padres bullpen did what it has done all month, and closer Mason Miller recorded his thirty-eighth save to finish it. The win was San Diego's fifteenth in its last seventeen games, which is exactly the kind of heater a team wants heading into October.

How San Diego broke through

For five innings, Glasnow looked untouchable. Then Ethan Salas singled to center for the Padres' first hit of the night, Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a single of his own, and Harris lofted a fly ball deep enough to bring home the game's first run, according to Reuters.

The seventh inning put the game away. With Glasnow out, the Padres teed off on reliever Justin Wrobleski, and Austin Hays, Salas, and Tatis strung together RBI singles to build a cushion. Glasnow took the loss despite a season-high eleven strikeouts, charged with three runs on three hits over six and a third innings.

On the mound, San Diego pieced it together the way it has all September. Starter Nick Pivetta delivered four and two-thirds scoreless innings with seven strikeouts on eighty-seven pitches in his final start of the regular season. Four relievers bridged the gap, with Yuki Matsui earning the win after a scoreless inning and Miller slamming the door in the ninth despite giving up a late run.

The Dodgers still got what they came for

Los Angeles did not walk away empty-handed. Earlier in the day, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, and that result locked the Dodgers into a top-two National League seed and a first-round bye into the division series, Reuters reported. At ninety-seven wins and sixty-two losses, they are still the team everyone is chasing.

Shohei Ohtani looked like himself in his second game back from the injured list, returning to the leadoff spot after dealing with biceps discomfort and going two for five with a two-out RBI double in the ninth. Mookie Betts had three of the Dodgers' seven hits in his first game batting second in six tries. Their first run came in the eighth, when Betts was awarded home plate on a balk by reliever Adrian Morejon.

The announced crowd of fifty-three thousand twenty-seven pushed the Dodgers past four million in home attendance for the second straight season, a small consolation on a night their rivals celebrated on their field.

What this sets up for October

The Padres playoff berth sends San Diego into the wild-card round, and nobody is going to want to see them there. A team that has won fifteen of seventeen is a genuine threat, and the Padres bullpen has been close to automatic during this run. A rematch with the Dodgers looms as a real possibility, which would turn baseball's most heated West Coast rivalry into a full October series.

There is a fun little what-if hanging over all of this too. For years the Padres have been the team that spends big and comes up short, the little brother in the National League West. Three straight playoff trips, sealed with a win at Dodger Stadium, feels like the moment that narrative finally flips.

The Dodgers have bigger worries than one September loss. Los Angeles clinched the division a while ago and has been coasting, and Thursday was a reminder that October pitching is a different animal. The first-round bye gives their arms a breather, which might be exactly what Glasnow and company need.

The regular season wraps this weekend and the playoff bracket locks soon after. For more on the October picture, check our look at the Yankees after the Aaron Judge injury scare and the latest medal results from the Asian Games.