The San Diego Padres secured the No. 4 seed in the National League playoffs and home-field advantage for the wild-card round by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-7 on Saturday at Petco Park, setting up a best-of-three postseason rematch against the Chicago Cubs.
San Diego locked up the top wild-card spot after a wild Saturday night anchored by a sellout crowd of 44,698 fans waving gold rally towels. The victory capped a dramatic late-season surge that saw the Padres bounce back from a 50-53 mark to finish the regular season at 90-71, securing their third consecutive 90-win campaign, a club record.
Manny Machado Powers Padres Past Diamondbacks With Career Milestone
The decisive blow came in the fourth inning when veteran third baseman Manny Machado launched a three-run home run into the right-field porch off Arizona reliever José Cabrera. The 34-year-old’s 30th home run of the season gave the Padres a 6-4 lead in a back-and-forth contest and moved him into rare historical company.
Machado’s blast marked the eighth 30-homer season of his career, tying him with Nolan Arenado and Kyle Schwarber as the only active players to reach that plateau. It was also his fourth 30-homer season in a San Diego uniform, pulling him even with Adrián González for the most in franchise history. The home run was the 399th of Machado’s career, leaving him just shy of becoming the second player to hit career home run No. 400 as a Padre, joining Mike Piazza in 2006.
“Obviously, playing in front of our home crowd is going to be huge. It’s going to be great. It’s home. Those guys bring it every single year. Come home and play how we always play in front of them. To start the postseason and start a run here at home, definitely exciting for sure.”
Manny Machado, Padres third baseman
The offense kept rolling after Machado’s swing. Xander Bogaerts added his 13th home run of the year in the fifth inning, continuing a scorching September that brought his monthly OPS to .847.
Rematch With the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park
The victory sets the stage for a high-stakes wild-card rematch against the Chicago Cubs, who claimed the No. 5 seed. Last year, the Cubs eliminated San Diego 2-1 in a tight series played at Wrigley Field. This time, the Padres’ stellar home performance—where they won 50 of 80 games during the regular season—guarantees them the right to host every game of the best-of-three series starting Tuesday.
Rookie manager Craig Stammen, who made history by becoming the first rookie skipper in franchise history to win 90 games, emphasized the relief of avoiding travel ahead of the opening round.
“The guys played great today and they’ve had a great season, and the reward is getting to play a couple playoff games at home, So we’re excited about that. We don’t have to pack our bags tomorrow and we can enjoy this one and then be ready for the playoffs, which is going to be the most important part of the season.”
Craig Stammen, Padres manager
The winner of the series will advance to face the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-five Division Series.
Rotation Questions and Bullpen Performance in the Finale
While the offense shined, the pitching staff endured a mixed night as Stammen used the game as a final tune-up for October. Walker Buehler struggled to find his command, allowing four runs—three earned—over 3 2/3 innings.
I didn’t tonight.