The San Diego Padres, with Michael King on the mound, will face the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Landon Knack as starting pitcher, on September 24, 2024 (9/24/24) at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

As the race for the National League Wild Card playoffs heats up, here’s how to watch the game.

Here’s how you can watch: Fans can watch the game for FREE via a trial of DirecTV Stream.

What: NL West game

WHO: San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

When: 24 September 2024

Time: 7:00 p.m. PT (10:00 p.m. ET)

Where: Dodger Stadium

TV: TBS

Station finder: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, Cox, DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.

Live stream: DirecTV Stream (free trial)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — If baseball gods really exist, they were certainly kind to Dylan Cease when he was traded from the weaker Chicago White Sox to the San Diego Padres during spring training.

Nowhere was the gravity of the decision to flee the South Side to Southern California more evident than late Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.

In the visitors’ clubhouse, Cease’s old teammates were packing their things for the flight home in a serious mood after setting the modern-era record of 120 defeats.

The mood in the hallway was exuberant after Cease and the Padres had brought a comeback win in front of another sold-out crowd to the brink of a postseason spot.

“We’re fighting for the playoffs and beyond. I love this team and I’m just happy to be here,” Cease said.

With their magic number now at one, Cease and the Padres could celebrate their entry into the postseason as early as Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium when they open a big three-game series against their biggest rival.

The Padres, who have reached 90 wins for the first time since 2010, have a three-game lead over Arizona and the NL’s first wild card, but they also have a chance to win the NL West for the first time since 2006. They are three games behind Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers with six games left to play. The Padres have the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 7-3 record.

Cease (14-11, 3.42 ERA) will start Wednesday night.

The playoff win will be the last memorable moment of the season for Cease. After being signed for four players on March 13, he had to rush to find his passport and luggage so he could join the Padres in Seoul, South Korea, where they were playing a two-game series against the Dodgers to open the season.

On July 25, he threw his first no-hitter in a 3-0 win at Washington, joining Joe Musgrove as the only Padres pitchers to accomplish the feat. They’re more than just No-No Bros. Cease wasn’t sleeping well in his apartment in a noisy downtown neighborhood, so Musgrove invited him to stay at his guest house in an outlying neighborhood.

“I’m having more fun playing baseball than I’ve ever had,” said Cease, who also called the Padres the most diverse team he’s ever played on. “I think we’re all optimistic. It’s been incredible to watch the resilience of this team. It’s just generally a lot of fun to be a part of.”

Cease made the playoffs with the White Sox in 2020 and 2021. But they went 81-81 in 2022 before losing 101 games last year.

“It’s a lot more enjoyable to win. And I know that sounds obvious, but you know, it’s definitely exhausting to lose that much,” Cease said. “It just seeps into everything. Being on a team where we’re playing well and competing, we all have a lot of energy every game. That’s great. It really is. I’m very happy to be here.”

The Padres are almost back to their best form in October and would like to win their first World Series title in honor of Peter Seidler, their owner, who died on November 14 at the age of 63.

Yu Darvish and Musgrove are back in the rotation after long breaks. Hitter Manny Machado has recovered from a slow start following elbow surgery during the offseason. Fernando Tatis Jr. is back to form after a two-month injury layoff. Centerfielder Jackson Merrill is aiming hard for the NL Rookie of the Year title.

Cease has been one of the few constants throughout the season. The 28-year-old right-hander leads the team with 32 starts, 184 1/3 innings pitched and 220 strikeouts.

“It was a nice boost for the club when we went to Korea, knowing we had signed another No. 1,” said manager Mike Shildt.

With Darvish out for three months and Musgrove for two months, the Padres had in Cease a man “who you could count on every fifth day to get a good start,” Shildt said. “He meant a lot to us. He did a great job for us.”

Cease’s no-hitter was no surprise. He only managed one no-hit in 2022 with Chicago against Minnesota before it was broken by Luis Arraez, his current teammate on the Padres.

“It’s nice to have someone else at the club and I’m glad it’s him,” Musgrove said.

Cease said Musgrove, who grew up in the suburb of El Cajon, is “kind of like the mayor here. So to do that and be the only two is really cool and special.”

In his last start, Cease managed a one-hitter until the ninth inning in a 4-0 win over AL East-leading Houston on Wednesday. He called it the third-best start of his career, behind his no-hitter and near-no-hitter.

In his only postseason start, he lasted just 1 2/3 innings in a 12-6 win over Houston in the 2021 AL Division Series.

“I wasn’t controlling the adrenaline,” he said. “I definitely didn’t take advantage of that moment as much as I would have liked. It’s a whole new level of intensity and pressure and all that. I’m glad I experienced that then and hopefully that helps me moving forward.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb