Padres’ best plan to save their season might sound crazy: Do absolutely nothing

As the San Diego Padres head home to the friendly confines of Petco Park for Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers it would behoove them to take a page out of Douglas Adams’ sci-fi comedy series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

“Don’t panic.”

That’s the phrase famously written on the cover of Adams’ fictional guide and it needs to become the mantra of this Padres team if they want to make history and get back into this series.

The Padres do not need to reinvent themselves. They don’t need a closed-door meeting, a fiery speech from Craig Stammen or some dramatic lineup shakeup designed to jolt a season suddenly dangling over the edge.

They need to do something much harder when panic is pounding on the door.

Nothing.

Seriously. Change nothing. In fact, keep everything as normal as you possibly can.

The Padres return to Petco Park trailing the Brewers 2-0 in the NLDS after two losses that felt less like baseball games and more like elaborate ways for the universe to torture San Diego.

In Game 1, the Padres led 2-0 before Milwaukee rallied. Then, with San Diego down to its final two outs, Ty France seemingly launched a go-ahead two-run homer off Trevor Megill — only for the baseball to strike a cable hanging from the roof at American Family Field and fall back into play for an out.

The roof was not on fire.

Twenty-four hours later, San Diego somehow found an even crueler way to lose.

The Padres carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth with Mason Miller, baseball’s most terrifying closer, on the mound. Miller had been pumping triple-digit fastballs past Milwaukee hitters all weekend and touched 104 mph in the bottom of the ninth.

But after Miller issued three walks, the Brewers loaded the bases for Jackson Chourio.

Chourio, initially overwhelmed by Miller’s velocity, survived long enough to adjust. With two outs and two strikes, he lined a 102 mph fastball up the middle for a two-run walk-off single.

That’s not one, but two gut punches to the Padres in two games.

But here’s the silver lining for San Diego: the Padres could have and arguably should have won both of those games.

That is why Stammen shouldn’t walk into his clubhouse Tuesday and pretend something is broken and in desperate need of fixing.

His message should be simple: You’ve already shown you can beat these guys three times in a row.

San Diego swept Milwaukee at Petco Park in August. The Padres have won 28 of their past 34 games there, including a staggering 23-5 home record across August and September, including their wild-card sweep against the Cubs.

So forget the fact that teams that win the first two home games of a Division Series have gone on to win 33 of 36 times. Forget that 92% figure that is staring San Diego straight in the face. History isn’t taking the field on Tuesday.

Nick Pivetta is.

And suddenly, the pitching matchups look much friendlier for the Padres.

Pivetta, the ace of San Diego’s 2025 staff, gets Game 3 against Dustin May. Survive that and the Padres can turn to Walker Buehler or Robbie Ray in Game 4. Win again, and Michael King — dominant in both of his postseason starts — could be waiting for Jacob Misiorowski in a winner-take-all Game 5 when all the pressure will be on Milwaukee.

Yes, Misiorowski is a nightmare. Yes, Milwaukee owns baseball’s best record. And yes, the Brewers’ bullpen has been suffocating San Diego through two games, but the Padres bullpen is better.

But there’s no point in worrying about Misiorowski now. Worry about him when you see him.

Starting on Tuesday night, the Padres season needs to be nine innings long. It needs to be taken inning by inning, pitch by pitch. Win the small battles, focus on the present moment, and you will win the war.

Win Tuesday and suddenly it’s 2-1. Win Wednesday and all that pressure San Diego carried home gets packed into Milwaukee’s luggage for the flight back to Wisconsin.

Baseball players love talking about having short memories. Now would be a wonderful time to prove it.

Forget the roof. Forget Chourio’s walk-off. Forget Miller losing command at precisely the worst possible moment.

Take the advice of Ted Lasso and have the memory of a goldfish.

Because desperation has a funny way of convincing good teams they suddenly need to become somebody else. The Padres don’t. They were inches from winning Game 1 and one strike away from winning Game 2.

There is no overhaul necessary. No magic formula hiding inside an analytics department. No miracle required — at least not yet.

Go home. Give Pivetta the baseball. Trust the team that has dominated Petco Park for two months and win one game.

Then do it again.

Do that, and suddenly the series shifts back to Milwaukee for Game 5, where the team carrying all the pressure will be wearing blue and yellow and not brown. 

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