The Padres beat the White Sox 4-2 on Sunday, reaching 90 wins for the first time since 2010 and in only the fifth season in franchise history.
They did so in front of an often frenzied crowd of 45,197 spectators at Petco Park, setting a new attendance record for the organization.
After the game – and a little mutual admiration – some spectators and some team members strolled to Gallagher Square to attend the Los Tucanes de Tijuana concert.
And then everyone went home.
The plan was for the Padres players and staff to stay in the locker room and watch the Mets game against the Phillies on television if necessary, because losses by the Braves and Mets on Sunday would have led to a celebration of the hard-fought playoff spot.
But the Braves completed their 5-4 victory over the Marlins shortly after the Padres and White Sox began playing, which meant that the plastic and Veuve Cliquot on the ice and later the professional carpet cleaners were no longer necessary.
Nobody really wanted to celebrate the delay anyway.
“It just feels different,” Jurickson Profar said. “We just have to keep winning and not worry about what the other teams are going to do.”
What the Padres recognized on Sunday, however, was the record-breaking crowds that have come to their games this season. All three of this weekend’s games against a historically bad opponent saw attendance exceed 45,000, setting a record for a three-game series at Petco Park and bringing the season’s total attendance to 3,314,593, beating last year’s record by just over 82,000.
As the Padres headed toward the dugout after shaking hands after the final out, the crowd broke into a “Beat LA” chant in anticipation of the Padres’ upcoming series against the Dodgers. A few minutes later, the Padres players and coaches returned to the field to clap and wave toward the stands.
“It was great to come to the stadium every day with the support of the fans,” said Manny Machado. “Sold out every day, Monday through Sunday. It’s been a fantastic year playing in front of these fans and we’ll continue to play in front of them over the next few weeks and hopefully the next month and a half.”
The Padres will travel by bus to Los Angeles on Monday, where they can secure a playoff spot with a win on Tuesday.
Sunday’s win and the Diamondbacks’ loss in Milwaukee extended the Padres’ lead in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot to three games. After the game against the Dodgers, the Padres will travel to Phoenix to play the final three games of the regular season against the Diamondbacks.
This series could decide which team hosts a best-of-three wild-card series to start the postseason.
But the Padres are heading north with a different goal: to win the NL West for the first time since 2006.
“That’s why we put ourselves in this position as a team,” said Fernando Tatis Jr. “Now it’s time to get the situation under control.”
With many Padres watching from various corners of the locker room, the Dodgers hit ninth-inning home runs by Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts on Sunday to beat the Rockies 6-5 and maintain their three-game lead in the division. The Padres have the tiebreaker against the Dodgers because they already won the season series between the teams. If the Padres win the three-game series at Dodger Stadium, they would have control of the West.
When asked what he expected from the series against the Dodgers, Machado said, “I’ll tell you when we get there. Let’s celebrate this win today.”
The Padres brought themselves to the brink of their third playoff appearance in five years (and brought the White Sox to the brink of shame) by tying the game twice on Sunday and winning by three runs in the eighth inning.
These runs were scored by two consecutive doubles by Donovan Solano and pinch hitter Luis Arraez, a sacrifice fly by Profar and a home run by Tatis.
Profar’s solo home run in the third inning tied the game 1-1.
The White Sox, whose 120th loss of the season tied an MLB record held by the 1962 Mets for more than six decades, had taken a 1-0 lead (on a home run by Vista High graduate Korey Lee) and a 2-1 lead (on a home run by Miguel Vargas) against Yu Darvish.
Darvish allowed just one other hit in 6⅓ innings and struck out nine, the sixth of which was the 2,000th of his career, making him the first Japanese-born pitcher to reach that mark and the 90th pitcher in MLB history to do so.
Adrián Morejón got the final two outs in the seventh inning and Jeremiah Estrada worked a scoreless eighth inning to put the Padres in position to earn their 37th comeback win. And Robert Suarez worked a scoreless ninth inning for his 34th save.
The Padres scored the game-winning run in their final offensive at-bat for the 22nd time this season.
“We fought all day,” manager Mike Shildt said. “We fought back, battled back and were able to bring it home.”
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