Padres fall to Diamondbacks, fail in first try at securing home playoff series

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Sep 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Phillies lost. The Cubs lost twice.

All the Padres regular position players volunteered to play Friday, a night after clinching a playoff spot and celebrating heartily.

A video montage from the previous evening’s postgame festivities had just played on the video boards at Petco Park. The Padres had taken the field. The music had stopped, but the noise had continued. The yellow towels given away to fans were being waved en masse.

Vibes were good.

Then Lars Nootbaar rocketed Casey Mize’s first pitch 403 feet to right field to put the Arizona Diamondbacks ahead.

They would score twice more in the first inning and again in the second, twice in the third and once in the fourth, as Mize allowed home runs to Jordan Lawlar and Nolan Arenado as well.

The sizzling and desperate Diamondbacks went on to an 11-4 victory — their sixth in a row — and moved to within a game of playoff position.

And the result kept the Padres from wrapping up the No. 4 seed in the National League playoff field.

That fourth seed, which comes with being the home team in the best-of-three wild-card series that begins Tuesday, can still be earned with one more victory by the Padres or a loss by the Cubs and Phillies.

All Friday really was — besides the missed chance to secure the home series — was confirmation that Mize will not be on the Padres’ roster for the first round of the postseason.

In that he has been battling a groin issue much of the season and wears a brace on his right ankle after spraining it on Aug. 22, Mize could even be placed on the injured list to make room for another pitcher the Padres could activate to pitch in Sunday’s season finale.

The 29-year-old right-hander arrived at the trade deadline with a 2.70 ERA in 16 starts, but has a 7.46 ERA in 10 starts with the Padres. He has allowed 13 home runs, which is eight more than he allowed in his starts for the Detroit Tigers this season.

Given all that, it seems unfathomable that the Padres can trust Mize in any important game. And those are the only games they will play after this weekend.

The Padres’ rotation for their first-round series has been all but set with Michael King starting Game 1 and Nick Pivetta and Walker Buehler to follow. Buehler would then be available for Game 1 of the NL Division Series if the Padres advance by winning their first two games. If not, the expectation is that Robbie Ray would start the opener of the NLDS.

The odds still greatly favor the Padres hosting their NL Wild Card Series, as they have two more chances to win and the reeling Cubs and Phillies have a combined three more chances to lose.

While the Padres have won 15 of their 18 games since Sept. 6, the Cubs and Phillies have both gone 7-11 in that span.

That allowed the Padres to rise from six games behind the Phillies and 61/2 games behind the Cubs to lead the Phillies two games and the Cubs by 11/2 games.

The biggest reason the Padres wanted to win Friday was so they could rest some position players and pitchers the rest of the weekend.

Now they must work a dual track of making sure players are in their best physical and mental space at the end of a long season and their desire for homefield advantage.

“I think balance is the right word,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said before Friday’s game. “You try to give them the rest that they deserve but also put a lineup out there that’s going to help us win games. Win … and we’re going to be playing here at home. And I think that’s a big, big opportunity for us.”