Padres complete sweep of Marlins, continue advance toward postseason

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Sep 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Walker Buehler, who has pitched in three World Series and has a pair of rings, signed with the San Diego Padres in February for this feeling.

“Being on a winning team that does it the way we have this year and is going to make the playoffs, it looks like, I think is a huge accomplishment,” he said Sunday.

That’s right — the Padres are so hot and so close they aren’t even afraid to say it.

Buehler continued to be an indispensable part of what now seems an inevitable march to a franchise first — a third consecutive postseason appearance.

He worked a season-high 6 2/3 innings in a 7-3 victory over the Miami Marlins that whittled the Padres’ magic number to two.

By completing their third three-game sweep in their past four series, they put themselves in position to clinch a playoff spot as early as Tuesday night.

What they need for that to happen is a victory in their series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a Arizona Diamondbacks loss in Colorado.

If the Padres are not celebrating Tuesday, there will be five more days of games for them to get the combination of victories or Diamondbacks losses that add up to two to assure their place in the six-team National League postseason field.

“We’re looking forward to winning ballgames,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “And there’s still a lot in play. We want to clinch, we’re trying to start a series over here in the playoffs. So, you know, still a lot in play, and we still have homework to do.”

As it stands now, the Padres hold the fifth seed, even with the Chicago Cubs and a game ahead of the Phillies. Because the Padres lost the season series against both teams, they would need to finish at least a game ahead of both in order to grab the fourth seed and host a best-of-three wild-card series.

The Diamondbacks, four games behind the Phillies, are the last remaining NL team with a chance. And, like the Cubs and Phillies, the Diamondbacks won Sunday.

“It’s hard not to kind of see what the rest of the teams around us are doing,” Jake Cronenworth said after one of the most productive games of his career. “… I think it drives us a little bit more. You see that score on the scoreboard, and I think it’s kind of taken our game to another level.”

It seems so.

Sunday was the Padres’ 13th victory in 14 games.

Cronenworth hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in another run with a double.

His homer in the second inning put the Padres up 2-0. Successive RBI doubles by Cronenworth and Samad Taylor doubled the lead in the fourth inning.

Meanwhile, Buehler was as dominant as he had ever been in a Padres uniform for six innings and was an out away from a scoreless outing before Javier Sanoja’s three-run homer got the Marlins to within 4-3.

The first out of the seventh inning came on the 12th straight batter Buehler retired. He then allowed his second single of the game, got a fielder’s choice grounder and issued his second walk before Sanoja’s blast.

Buehler walked off the mound to an ovation, barking an obscenity as he passed the first base line, frustrated at having left a fastball up but not up enough.

“Really, really good ’til the end,” Buehler said. “But we won the game. That’s all that matters.”

After Buehler worked into the seventh inning for the first time this season, he was replaced by Kyle Hart.

Bradgley Rodriguez worked the eighth, and Mason Miller retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.

Tatis’ solo homer in the bottom of the seventh and Cronenworth’s second home run, in the eighth, provided the final margin.

Sunday was the fifth consecutive game in which the Padres scored at least seven runs, something they had done just four times in franchise history before this stretch.

Their 13-1 record since Sept. 6 is their first 14-game run that good since 2006.

“I feel like the whole team is in a good spot right now,” Tatis said. “We’re playing really good baseball. We’re checking in when we have to. The entire lineup is in a good spot right now. So when it’s going like that, it’s … a good time.”

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