Padres Daily: Believing, fighting, 'wishing on a prayer' despite slim playoff odds

Good morning from San Francisco,

The Padres are not being unrealistic, just hopeful.

For them to make the playoffs, there are 13 (of 14) outcomes that have to go their way over the next four days — 10 not in their control and three they can control.

“The chances are really slim,” Xander Bogaerts said. “But we definitely are watching.”

In fact, a group of Padres players was watching what turned out to be the end of the Cubs game against the Braves last night as the Padres’ game against the Giants was entering the second inning.

The Padres standing around a TV in an area behind the visitors dugout at Oracle Park excitedly urged the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. to steal second base and cheered when he did. And then they cheered louder when Ozzie Albies’ single drove in Acuña to give the Braves a 6-5 walk-off victory in 10 innings.

“The boys are still alive,” Nick Martinez shouted after running to the dugout.

After their own 10-inning victory, which you can read about in my game story (here), the Padres are still alive.

It is sort of a life-support existence.

“Wishing on a prayer,” Garrett Cooper said.

But — after all the drama and disappointment and after all but conceding their season was over — the Padres head into the final weekend with a chance to get to the playoffs.

For it to happen, they must win their remaining three games, the Cubs have to lose their four games, the Marlins have to lose their four games and the Reds have to lose at least two of three.

The Padres are off today in Chicago before beginning a three-game series against the White Sox. The Marlins finish their series against the Mets, and the Cubs finish their series against the Braves.

Said Manny Machado: “We’ll be keeping track of them, for sure.”

More than anything, the Padres continue to enjoy the affirmation of winning 11 of their past 13 and moving to withing a game of .500 (79-80).

“Our goal right now is to finish above .500,” Machado said. “After the year we’ve had, just finish strong. I think that’s the biggest goal is finish the season off on a high note.”

Even if it is all they have left.

“I think in the end, through all that we’ve been through this year, I think the winning record has its meaning,” Bogaerts said. “Although we didn’t make it — not yet, but if we don’t make it — at least we proved ourselves, you know, that we’re better than what we are.”

The news

I wrote (here) yesterday about the expectation that Bob Melvin and A.J. Preller will be back next season.

Within that story was context regarding their strained relationship and how their continued employment appears to be at least partly contingent on the two men and those around them figuring out a way to repair the rift and move forward.

There are certainly those that believe the relationship is unsalvageable, but the intention of Padres Chairman Peter Seidler is for Melvin to manage and Preller to continue in his role as President of Baseball Operations.

I want to share right now that there is a lot about my job that I love.

I get to watch baseball and talk about baseball with those who play it and know it best. I get to write about wins and losses and streaks and slumps and why guys are throwing certain pitches and how they have tweaked their swing and how they work through the mental grind of the game. I get a front-row seat to witness the impressive feats of guys playing through injury and escaping bases-loaded jams and having big playoff series after horrible regular seasons. I stay up to all hours researching and writing.

And no matter how tiring it gets over the course of a nonstop seven or eight months, I remind myself all the time how lucky I am.

Lately, I’m having to remind myself of that a bit more frequently.

The kind of stories I have written a few times in the past couple weeks, such as yesterday’s, are not why I got in the business. They are, however, what the job calls for — to inform fans of the team I cover, to the best of my ability.

Anyway, just 135 days until spring training.

Tidbits

• Rookie right-hander Matt Waldron allowed two runs in a career-high six innings, finishing the season with a 2.65 ERA over his final three starts (17 innings) after posting a 5.55 ERA over his first five appearances (24⅓ innings).
  
• Machado was 3-for-5 last night and is batting .329 (25-for-76) in September. His average ranks 16th in the National League this month. Bogaerts (.419) leads the NL, while Luis Campusano (.359) ranks sixth and Juan Soto (.344) ranks 10th.
  
• Soto was 0-for-4 last night, but when he was intentionally walked in the 10th inning it extended his career-high on-base streak to 31 games.
  
• Bogaerts drove in two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies and had his 28th infield hit, which is tied for most in the major leagues.
  
• Brett Sullivan filled in at catcher for the injured Campusano (ankle) in the three-game series against the Giants and went 5-for-10.
  
• Martinez will start tomorrow’s series opener against the White Sox with Michael Wacha starting Saturday “and then we’ll see,” Melvin said.Blake Snell will only start Sunday if the Padres are still in contention.

All right, that’s it for me. Early flight to Chicago today.
I will have a story on our Padres page later on some of the biggest things to lament about this crazy season. But no game, so no .