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Padres clinch MLB postseason spot with game-winning triple play against Dodgers

25 September 2024Last Update :
Padres clinch MLB postseason spot with game-winning triple play against Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Ruben Niebla was standing in the visiting dugout Tuesday at Dodger Stadium when an unexpected encapsulation of this Padres season unfolded in seconds.

With two on and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, closer Robert Suarez yielded a hard groundball that went directly to Manny Machado. The star third baseman calmly fielded it, stepped on third base, fired a strike to second baseman Jake Cronenworth and watched as Cronenworth fired another strike, to first baseman Donovan Solano. This was how the Padres secured a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers, clinched a postseason berth and turned the first game-ending triple play in the majors in three years.

“I was on the top step going like, ‘Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god!’” Niebla, the Padres’ pitching coach, said. “It was an unbelievable feeling.”

And it felt fitting. Historically disappointing a year ago, the Padres spent last offseason mourning the death of owner Peter Seidler, slashing their payroll, trading Juan Soto and lowering external expectations. Meanwhile, inside the organization, they maintained they could rebound with an especially collective approach.

Then the Padres spent the first half of this season teasing their fan base, with help from similarly inconsistent opponents throughout the National League. Still, for months, first-year manager Mike Shildt and his players maintained that the consistency of their preparation would pay off.

Tuesday night, the Padres won for the 41st time in 58 games since the All-Star break. No other big-league team has won as often in the same span. No previous Padres team won as frequently over as much time. No matter how the season ends, fans in San Diego will be talking about this run for years to come.

It isn’t just that the Padres have surged from 50-49 to 91-66, their best record in 26 years. It’s how they have done it. Albeit in spectacular fashion, the franchise’s first triple play since 2010 merely reinforced the soundness of their methods.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Machado said. “We’re gonna pick up everyone, all year. We told Robert on that mound visit, even before, ‘Hey, we got you. Go out there, keep doing your thing.’”

The mound visit in question had occurred moments before, with likely National League MVP Shohei Ohtani looming in the on-deck circle.

“I gave (Suarez) what to do, and then I was like, ‘If we put the ball on the ground, we’re in a good spot because that might be a double play,’” Niebla said. “We can pitch around Ohtani at that time. So, that was the plan, and he put it on the ground at the perfect spot. It was awesome.”

Niebla spoke as music blared and alcoholic beverages flowed inside a packed visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. For the second time in three years, the Padres are headed back to the playoffs. The letdown of 2023 is a memory. So is the run to the 2022 National League Championship Series.

The Padres have more reason than ever to live in the moment. They now trail the Dodgers by just two games in the National League West. They already hold the tiebreaker between the two teams. With five regular-season games left to play, San Diego is a real threat to win its first division title since 2006. Even if it doesn’t, October figures to be as exciting as ever.

“Obviously, there’s so many great teams, but we feel like we’re as dangerous as anybody,” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. “It’s a complete team. Every night, somebody else steps up. I’m so proud and so happy to be with this group. They deserve it. We’re looking forward for a big run.”

The contributions, expected and less so, have come throughout the season. The Padres lost veteran starters Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish to significant injuries early. They lost veteran infielder Xander Bogaerts to a broken shoulder. They lost franchise right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. to a stress reaction in his left leg. They stayed afloat despite all that and welcomed all of those players back to a team that appeared stronger than before.

In the meantime, left fielder Jurickson Profar had starred. So had rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill. These were but two of the players who stepped up in a season to remember, no matter how it ends.

“I don’t think anybody in this room at any point in time during the season had any doubt we were going to get here,” Shildt, doused in beer, said after Tuesday’s win. “But it’s a long road, and it’s a road that requires a lot of different twists and turns and a lot of belief in each other.”

In the aftermath of a clincher, the Padres sprayed the champagne that had been kept on ice two days earlier, when an Atlanta Braves win on the other side of the country delayed San Diego’s celebration. And, understandably, they could not stop talking about a certain moment.

Michael King, Tuesday’s winning pitcher, recalled how he had stood beside fellow starters Musgrove and Dylan Cease, waiting for replay review to confirm a triple play. “I was like, ‘That could be the first triple play of the year in one of the biggest spots,’” King said. “It was incredible, absolutely incredible.”

(It was, in fact, the second triple play of the year; the Philadelphia Phillies turned one in June. At the same time, Niebla noted, “I’ve never seen one of this magnitude.”)

Cronenworth, who homered and drove in three runs for his first RBIs of September, walked through a jubilant clubhouse Face Timing with Ha-Seong Kim, who was in Arizona rehabbing a balky shoulder.

“No matter who it’s against — a great (Dodgers) team going to the playoffs — but for us to do it on that play specifically, with everybody involved, is awesome,” Cronenworth said.

“A finish like that,” Solano said, “that was the best thing ever.”

Of course, it would not have been possible without the presence of mind Machado displayed. The two-time Gold Glove Award winner has spent much of this season building back toward full strength after offseason elbow surgery.

This, too, felt fitting.

“Tough things taste better at the end, right? Tough years,” Machado said. “We lost a few great players, and no one counted us in, and here we are. And it’s all credit to this team. … We’re gonna enjoy tonight, enjoy this game, enjoy the celebration. But the job’s not finished yet.”

(Photo of Padres players celebrating after clinching a playoff spot with a triple play: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

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