There was a legitimate case to be made that the Padres should lose their regular season finale to the Diamondbacks. Let me explain why.
Odds are it was going to be either Atlanta or New York, who both have the tiebreaker on Arizona, that earns the 5th playoff seed and the right to come to San Diego to play the best-of-three Wild Card series.
If Arizona finished with a win, it would just about guarantee the Braves and Mets would have to play at least one meaningful game against one another on Monday (and potentially a doubleheader made up of games postponed by the impact of Hurricane Helene), further depleting their pitching staffs while San Diego kicked back and awaited whichever tired team came to town.
In fact, the best possible scenario would have been the Braves losing with the Mets and Diamondbacks win, ensuring there would be a double dip in the ATL and forcing both teams to throw their best available arms to make sure they get into the playoffs.
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Maybe this really is the year for the Friars because that is exactly what happened.
The Padres fell to the Diamondbacks 11-2 while the Braves lost at home to Kansas City 4-2 and the Mets topped the Brewers 5-0, setting up a very long and arduous Monday for a couple of old National League East rivals (more on that in a second).
How the game at Chase Field in Phoenix unfolded is really not all that important. Arizona All-Star infielder Ketel Marte hit a 2-run home run to cap a 6-run 4th inning for the snakes that really put the game out of reach.
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HOWEVER, there is one at-bat in the 6th inning that meant quite a bit. You could even say it made history.
Padres 1st baseman Luis Arraez lined a double to right-centerfield, his 200th hit of the season. Arraez became the third Padre ever to reach 200 knocks in a year, joining Tony Gwynn, who unsurprisingly did it five times, and Mark Loretta. It also gave Arraez a third straight batting title (mathematically speaking Braves DH Marcell Ozuna can catch him but it would take him going 9-for-10 in Monday's doubleheader so I think we're safe to call this a win for Arraez).
The San Diego leadoff hitter locked in with a .314 average, putting him out of reach of 2nd place Shohei Ohtani and preventing the Dodgers slugger from winning the National League Triple Crown. It's the 3rd straight batting title for Arraez. He's not the first player to win three straight but he is the first to do it with three different teams in two different leagues.
Luis won the American League crown in 2022 with the Twins then led the league in 2023 with the Marlins. With one more year of arbitration before reaching free agency, hopefully he has a chance to go for a fourth straight while staying in San Diego.
The Padres will have a workout at Petco Park on Monday as they prepare for the Wild Card series and here's what's on the line for the doubleheader in Atlanta:
If the Braves win just one game on Monday they will be the 5th seed and come to San Diego. If the Mets win the other game they will be the 6th seed and go to Milwaukee. If either one of those teams wins both games, that club will be the 5th seed and get the Padres while the Diamondbacks take the final playoff spot and play the Brewers as the 6th seed.
Game one of the NL Wild Card series will start at 5:38pm on Tuesday at Petco Park, game two will be Wednesday at 5:38pm, then if needed game three will start at 4:08pm Thursday.
