— San Diego center fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. dropped Nolan Arenado’s bases-loaded popup and heaved the ball home, leading to a five-run first inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Padres 8-7 Sunday for an eight-game winning streak.
Padres pitcher Jake Arrieta departed Sunday's start at St. Louis with a right adductor groin strain after facing six batters.
Manny Machado screamed at teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. in the dugout during the fifth inning of the Padres' loss to the Cardinals after Tatis reacted angrily to a call by the plate umpire.
— With the San Diego Padres squabbling amongst themselves, the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to solidify their postseason position.
— Dylan Carlson homered twice, including a grand slam, to help Miles Mikolas win for the first time in two years as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 on Friday night.
— Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his NL-leading 39th home run and the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 7-4 on Thursday to earn a series split.
The San Diego Padres placed lefty Blake Snell in the 10-day injured list due to a left adductor groin strain and signed veteran righty Vince Velasquez to a minor league deal.
Which squads are rising and falling as teams start punching their postseason tickets?
— It took more than four hours and San Diego finally returned to the win column — and the Padres desperately needed this one to stay right in the playoff race.
As the end of the season looms, several MLB award races don't yet have a clear winner. Who has the edge?
— Buster Posey is hitting, moving on the bases and catching with an encouraging strength in mid-September for someone who had hip surgery three years ago and chose to sit out the shortened 2020 season to protect his young family.
The San Francisco Giants became the first major league team to clinch a playoff spot this season after beating the Padres 9-1 on Monday for their eighth win in a row.
Here are stats to know, players to watch and reasons for optimism and pessimism for each wild-card hopeful.
— Max Scherzer had been anticipating his 3,000th career strikeout. He had his family on hand, and Los Angeles Dodgers fans knew it was coming.
Padres starter Blake Snell left Sunday's start in the first inning with left adductor tightness.
— Mookie Betts hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers held off the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Saturday night.
— Pitching and just enough hitting got the Dodgers back to winning.
With teams jockeying for a limited number of spots, which squads are rising and falling?
— The San Diego Padres are beginning to get some strong starting pitching just at the right time.
In our 2011 interview, HoFer Ozzie Smith said of Wednesday's inductee, Derek Jeter, "A picture of consistency…a great baseball intellect, great baseball instincts, was taught the fundamentals when he was young and it seemed to carry over into his life…he was raised right." Smith also said of his fellow shortstop, "Having the confidence of your pitcher that you're the guy, that's the greatest compliment and Derek always had that."
With the Padres fighting for the second wild card -- they are now tied with the Reds, with the Phillies two games back and the Cardinals and Mets 3.5 games behind -- every Snell start suddenly feels like a must-win game.
— Blake Snell made another bid at a gem.
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 97 | 53 | .647 | - | L1 |
| LA Dodgers | 96 | 54 | .640 | 1 | W2 |
| San Diego | 76 | 73 | .510 | 20.5 | L3 |
| Colorado | 70 | 79 | .470 | 26.5 | L1 |
| Arizona | 48 | 101 | .322 | 48.5 | L1 |
