SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres spent the final two months of the regular season playing like a team of destiny. On Wednesday night, destiny delivered another cruel reminder that October doesn’t care what you did in August and September.
The Milwaukee Brewers silenced Petco Park, suffocated San Diego’s offense and eliminated the Padres with a 3-1 victory in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, advancing to the NLCS for the second consecutive season.
For the Padres, it was another October obituary written far too early. For Milwaukee, the celebration was merely an appetizer. The main course awaits in their rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Brewers, owners of baseball’s best regular-season record, will now face the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers in the sequel to last year’s NLCS.
But before Milwaukee could book its return trip to the championship series, it had to extinguish one final flicker of hope in San Diego.
That hope arrived in the third inning, courtesy of Fernando Tatis Jr.
With the Padres trailing 1-0, Tatis launched a solo home run off Brewers starter Robert Gasser, sending the Petco Park faithful into a frenzy. The Dominican superstar punctuated the blast with a towering bat flip, as if he could launch San Diego’s postseason fortunes into orbit along with the baseball.
For one fleeting moment, the Padres looked alive again as the sold out crowd of 47,712 at Petco Park erupted.
Unfortunately, that would be the last time they would celebrate as the offense went mostly silent over the next six innings.
Walker Buehler, making his first postseason appearance since closing out the 2024 World Series for the Dodgers, opened with a six-pitch first inning. But Milwaukee struck first when Sal Frelick singled, stole second and scored on Garrett Mitchell’s RBI single.
It was the first time the Brewers had scored first in the series, and an ominous sign for a Padres team already fighting for its postseason life.
Buehler lasted into the fourth before allowing a leadoff single to William Contreras. With four left-handed hitters approaching in Milwaukee’s next five batters, Padres manager Craig Stammen pulled his starter and summoned Robbie Ray, who had started Game 1 of the series.
The maneuver bought San Diego some time, but not salvation.
Mitchell opened the fifth with a triple down the right-field line, putting the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Jackson Chourio followed with an RBI single, giving Milwaukee a 2-1 lead it would never surrender.
The Brewers added insurance in the sixth after Jake Bauers singled off Jason Adam and Cooper Pratt hammered a ground-rule double that bounced off the Western Metal Supply building.
Frelick delivered a sacrifice fly, extending Milwaukee’s advantage to 3-1.
That would be all Milwaukee needed as the Brewers bullpen took care of the rest, Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill combined to pitch five shoutout innings of relief, turning the late innings into a slow, agonizing countdown to another Padres postseason funeral.
To make matters worse, in the bottom of the 8th inning, with the tying run at first base, Manny Machado appeared to hit a game-tying homer to right-center, but Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell snatched San Diego’s hearts out when he leapt above the wall to rob the Padres and keep Milwaukee’s lead intact.
The Padres had the talent, the star power and the momentum. They entered October believing this was finally the team capable of ending the franchise’s championship drought.
Instead, when the season demanded its biggest hits, the bats went silent.
San Diego’s pitching gave the Padres a fighting chance Wednesday. Its offense couldn’t deliver the knockout punch, or even enough body blows to make Milwaukee uncomfortable.
The Padres didn’t lose this series because they lacked talent. They lost because they couldn’t consistently turn that talent into runs when the stakes were the highest.
And now, another promising season ends with the same bitter taste.
What it means
For Milwaukee, the victory validates a 103-win regular season and sends the Brewers back to the NLCS with unfinished business against the Dodgers.
For San Diego, the defeat raises uncomfortable questions about a championship window that keeps opening just wide enough to slam shut.
The Padres were baseball’s hottest team during stretches of August and September, but October remains their cruelest adversary.
San Diego is still searching for its first World Series championship, and another season of enormous expectations has produced nothing more than an early winter yet again.
Turning point
Garrett Mitchell’s leadoff triple in the fifth changed everything.
With the game tied 1-1, Mitchell ripped a ball down the right-field line off Robbie Ray. Jackson Chourio followed with the go-ahead RBI single, restoring Milwaukee’s lead and draining the electricity from Petco Park.
Did you see that?
Holy bat flip, Batman!
Fernando Tatis Jr. didn’t just admire his game-tying homer in the third inning. He launched his bat skyward in a celebration worthy of a postseason highlight reel.
Unfortunately for San Diego, the bat traveled higher than the Padres’ postseason ceiling.
Up next
Hollywood gets its sequel.
The Brewers and Dodgers will meet in the NLCS for the second consecutive season after Los Angeles swept Milwaukee in four games last October.
Much of the cast returns, but both clubs feature different rotations and new supporting pieces.
Milwaukee owns baseball’s best record. Los Angeles owns the last two World Series trophies.
Now the Brewers get another opportunity to dethrone the defending champions and prevent the Dodgers from becoming the first National League franchise to win three consecutive World Series titles.
And for the Padres? Another October spent watching someone else chase the championship they thought would finally be theirs.
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