SAN DIEGO, Calif. — There have been hugs, high-fives and loads of unhappiness contained in the Padres clubhouse following their 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Recreation 4 of the NLDS.
Their season got here to an abrupt finish after falling behind 2-0 within the sequence in heartbreaking trend. The Padres believed they might flip the script in San Diego and power a return journey to Milwaukee, however that wouldn't occur.
There was loads of hope earlier than and through Wednesday evening's sport, however the ball simply didn't bounce San Diego's approach. As an alternative, the Padres seemed like a workforce that had run out of fuel.
Since mid-July, the Padres had been telling the media they had been in playoff mode, attempting to beat a 50-53 begin to the season. They powered their approach to a 41-18 end, incomes a postseason berth and giving themselves an opportunity to compete for a championship.
However every thing fell flat of their most important sport of the season.
“Each baseball season ends very abruptly whenever you're within the playoffs, earlier than you need usually,” Padres supervisor Craig Stammen mentioned. “Just one workforce will get to win it in the long run. Sadly, this 12 months it wasn't our likelihood.”
In Recreation 4, when the Padres desperately wanted to resemble the workforce that went 41-18 down the stretch and shortly dispatched the Chicago Cubs within the Wild Card spherical, they as a substitute seemed just like the workforce that began 50-53.
The offense struggled to provide runs, and errors proved pricey.
The sport introduced again reminiscences of Recreation 4 of the 2024 NLDS, when the Padres held a 2-1 sequence lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego was shut out as Los Angeles cruised to an 8-0 victory to even the sequence.
The Dodgers would go on to win Recreation 5, holding the Padres to 2 hits in a 2-0 victory to remove San Diego.
“It sucks,” Padres pitcher Michael King mentioned. “It's a superb group in right here, and a pair issues didn't fall our approach all through the entire sequence.”
One second from Wednesday evening's loss stood out to just about each participant contained in the clubhouse.
Within the backside of the eighth inning, Petco Park erupted as followers chanted Manny Machado's identify. With Fernando Tatis Jr. on first base and the Padres trailing by two runs, Machado drove a ball deep towards heart subject.
For a second, it appeared the Padres had tied the sport.
However Brewers heart fielder Garrett Mitchell made a leaping catch on the wall, robbing Machado of a possible game-tying dwelling run as followers reached round his glove.
It was a play that might have modified every thing for San Diego.
“Simply unlucky, man,” Machado mentioned. “Good play. Ought to have hit it more durable.”
“I assumed Manny's ball was going out tonight, you recognize,” Padres GM AJ Preller mentioned.
“It’s a powerful one to swallow,” Tatis mentioned.
“I’m nonetheless shocked Manny's ball wasn't a homer,” King mentioned.
Denis Poroy-Imagn Photos
Oct 7, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; Milwaukee Brewers heart fielder Garrett Mitchell (5) catches a ball hit by San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (not pictured) on the wall throughout the eighth inning in sport 4 of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park.
Everybody appeared to share the identical disbelief. When Mitchell got here down with the baseball, he took the air and hope out of Petco Park.
These forms of moments haunted the Padres all through the sequence.
In Recreation 1, Ty France was concerned in a controversial play when a ball struck the stadium roof and was dominated an out. In Recreation 2, Jackson Chourio delivered a walk-off, two-run single off Mason Miller. Then got here Machado's potential game-tying dwelling run in Recreation 4 that by no means made it over the wall.
“We had alternatives there, and we simply didn't actually provide you with the clutch hit. They did,” Machado mentioned. “That's simply how the sequence got here round.”
The Padres have skilled stretches when their offense disappears, and Wednesday evening was one other instance.
San Diego had a chance to set the tone within the first inning however didn’t capitalize.
After Tatis fouled out to first base, Jackson Merrill singled earlier than Machado reached on a bunt, sprinting down the first-base line to beat the throw.
Two of San Diego's finest hitters had been aboard early.
France grounded out, advancing Merrill to 3rd and Machado to second, giving Xander Bogaerts a chance to drive within the sport's first runs.
Bogaerts, who hit .322 in September, popped out to finish the risk.
Scoring early might have modified the complexion of the sport. As an alternative, Milwaukee escaped the inning with out permitting a run, giving beginning pitcher Robert Gasser an early increase.
The Brewers broke by means of within the prime of the third inning.
Sal Frelick reached on an infield hit after Jake Cronenworth made a diving cease however couldn't safe the baseball. Frelick instantly stole second base, beating Luis Campusano's throw.
Mitchell then linked on Walker Buehler's fifth pitch of the at-bat, sending a single up the center towards Merrill. The ball slowly rolled into heart subject, permitting Frelick to race dwelling and provides Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.
The Padres ultimately answered.
Within the backside of the fourth inning, Tatis linked on a four-seam fastball from Gasser and launched it 429 ft over the wall for his second dwelling run of the postseason.
It was his first homer since his opening swing of the NL Wild Card spherical and tied the sport at 1-1.
However Milwaukee shortly regained management.
Buehler bumped into bother within the prime of the fourth after permitting a single to William Contreras and strolling Jake Bauers. Stammen turned to Robbie Ray, who escaped the inning when Frelick grounded out.
Stammen elected to maintain Ray on the mound for the fifth inning, however Mitchell attacked his second pitch and drove it down the right-field line, previous a diving France, for a triple.
There was some query about whether or not the ball was honest, however the umpire dominated it honest.
Jackson Chourio then delivered a single to heart subject on Bradgley Rodriguez's second pitch, bringing Mitchell dwelling to offer Milwaukee a 2-1 lead.
The Brewers added one other run within the sixth inning.
Jason Adam entered and shortly surrendered a single to Bauers, adopted by a ground-rule double to Cooper Pratt.
Frelick then lifted a sacrifice fly to left subject, permitting Bauers to attain and lengthen Milwaukee's result in 3-1.
Adam escaped with out permitting additional harm, however the Padres had been operating out of alternatives.
Denis Poroy-Imagn Photos
Oct 7, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers (9) celebrates with Milwaukee Brewers heart fielder Garrett Mitchell (5) after scoring a run throughout the sixth inning in opposition to the San Diego Padres in sport 4 of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park.
Their offense continued to battle within the backside of the sixth. Machado grounded out, France walked, and Austin Hays grounded right into a double play to finish the inning.
Frustration started to construct inside Petco Park, with followers rising stressed and a few starting to boo.
At that time, San Diego had managed solely three hits. One was Tatis' dwelling run, whereas the opposite two got here from Merrill and Machado within the first inning.
“We performed a reasonably good sequence and simply didn't find yourself on the best aspect of the scoreboard,” Stammen mentioned. “We performed to our normal.”
Stammen turned to nearer Mason Miller within the seventh inning.
Miller retired Chourio on a lineout and struck out Christian Yelich, however Milwaukee threatened after Contreras and Brice Turang singled earlier than Bauers walked to load the bases.
Miller escaped the jam when Pratt lined out, preserving the deficit at two runs.
The issue remained San Diego's offense, which couldn't match Milwaukee's manufacturing. By that time, the Brewers had collected ten hits.
The Padres went quietly once more within the backside of the seventh.
Bogaerts grounded out, and Campusano struck out earlier than Miguel Andújar entered as a pinch hitter for Cronenworth and drew a stroll. Samad Taylor struck out seeking to finish the inning.
“From pitch one to the final pitch, it was it was a effectively contested, tremendous intense sequence,” Preller mentioned. “May have gone both approach. You already know, clearly had a pair a pair massive pitches, a pair massive swings that didn't fairly go our approach… it's an excellent workforce over there, and we didn't we didn't do fairly sufficient to place ourselves in place to advance.”
One among Stammen's extra attention-grabbing selections got here within the eighth inning when he turned to Joe Musgrove.
Musgrove retired all three batters he confronted, recording two strikeouts and a groundout.
His efficiency raised a query: Why was this his first look since Recreation 1 of the Wild Card spherical?
Musgrove returned for the ninth inning and once more saved Milwaukee off the scoreboard. He hit Yelich with a pitch however in any other case labored by means of the inning with out permitting any harm.
“For me personally, I didn't get to contribute an entire lot on the sphere this 12 months, so I really feel like I'm simply getting began with my 12 months, and it's it's coming to an finish,” Musgrove mentioned. “In order that'll take a couple of days to recover from.”
It was one other pitching determination price questioning in a sequence stuffed with them.
“He was out there right now and will have got here in and will have been in that, the place Jason Adam pitched and located a number of the lefties,” Stammen defined his pitching selections. “I in all probability might have used Mason slightly earlier and probably use him for a couple of inning, and I assumed Adrian might shut the sport out. So we wanted to avoid wasting him. We would have liked someone again there to avoid wasting the sport, and the best way we had been going by means of the relievers, there wasn't a ton left. Everybody just about did their job. We gave up three runs in a nine-inning ballgame. That's not too shabby.”
Whereas the pitching workers held Milwaukee to a few runs, the offense by no means discovered a approach to reply.
Now, the Padres enter an offseason stuffed with uncertainty.
Denis Poroy-Imagn Photos
Oct 7, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (13) reacts after hitting a fly ball that was caught on the wall throughout the eighth inning in opposition to the Milwaukee Brewers in sport 4 of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park.
San Diego's new possession group, led by Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano, may have a number of vital selections to make. They walked across the clubhouse giving every participant a hug and thanking them.
A kind of questions includes rookie supervisor Craig Stammen, whose pitching selections all through the Brewers sequence might face scrutiny.
The Padres even have a number of vital roster selections looming, with gamers comparable to France, Adam and Adrian Morejón dealing with unsure futures. King additionally has a chance to choose out of his contract this offseason.
For Morejón, the potential for leaving San Diego was an emotional topic.
“I really feel unhappy as a result of I don't wish to say goodbye, however you recognize it's enterprise,” Morejón mentioned with tears in his eyes. “Let's see what occurs throughout the offseason. I informed my agent I wanna keep right here, however you recognize it's not my determination proper now. So let's see what occurs throughout this offseason.”
There may be additionally the truth that the Padres' championship window isn't getting any youthful.
Machado and Bogaerts will each flip 35 subsequent season, with the third baseman owed $39.9 million and the shortstop owed $25.4 million.
“We anticipate some strikes within the off season,” Musgrove mentioned. “Revamp the group. Get the items that we’d like, and are available again and make one other run.”
Milwaukee will now have a couple of days to relaxation earlier than internet hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers in Recreation 1 of the NLCS at American Household Area on Sunday, October 11.
For San Diego, the season is over.
A workforce that overcame a 50-53 begin, surged by means of the ultimate two months of the common season and entered October believing it might make a championship run will as a substitute spend the offseason questioning what might have been.
For Machado, who has repeatedly expressed his need to deliver a championship to San Diego, the frustration was evident.
“It burns,” Machado mentioned. “You already know, it's ache. This workforce, you recognize. We fought all 12 months. We handled quite a bit as a bunch. Overcame quite a bit. I imply, it stings proper now for certain. However on the identical time, pleased with these guys.”