2024 San Diego Padres

2024 San Diego Padres / Franchise: San Diego Padres / BR Team Page

Record: 93-69, Finished 2nd in NL Western Division (2024 NL) Wild Card

Managed by Mike Shildt

Coaches: Brian Esposito, Ben Fritz, David Macias, Tim Leiper, Mike McCoy, Ruben Niebla, Pat O'Sullivan and Vic Rodriguez

Ballpark: Petco Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The 2024 San Diego Padres opened their season with a two-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers played at the Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul, South Korea on March 20-21. They were the first two major league games to be played in South Korea. The Padres lost the opener, 5-2, on a late Dodgers rally, but defeated them 15-11 in a slugfest in the second game. No fewer than four players made their major league debut for the Padres during the two games, including two top prospects in CF Jackson Merrill, who started both games at age 20, and veteran Japanese pitcher Yuki Matsui, who was signed as a free agent during the off-season.

The opening series came after a busy off-season for the Padres, as in addition to Matsui's signing, they made a couple of blockbuster trades. The first one, on December 6th, sent OF Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in return for five players, after it proved to be impossible for the Friars to sign Soto to a long-term contract. Soto was due to become a free agent at the end of the 2024 season and had already rejected a proposal from the Padres, who decided it was better to deal him for a haul than to watch him walk away with little or no compensation after the season. They also sent OF Trent Grisham to New York and received three major leaguers in Mike King, Jhony Brito and Kyle Higashioka, as well as minor leaguers (Drew Thorpe and Randy Vasquez). On March 13th, they pulled off another trade, this one with the Chicago White Sox, although this time the roles were reversed: it was the Padres who sent four prospects in order to acquire a front-line player, in this case SP Dylan Cease. Reliever Steven Wilson, Thorpe, and two other prospects, Jairo Iriarte and Samuel Zavala, went the other way. It was the Padres' inability to re-sign Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who was still a free agent at the time, that motivated the trade.

The Padres did something unprecedented on June 11-12 and 20: they won three consecutive home games thanks to a walk-off homer in the 9th inning. The first two wins came against the Oakland Athletics, with Kyle Higashioka and Jackson Merrill hitting the game-ending blasts, respectively. The Padres then went on a six-game road trip on the East Coast, but when they returned to Petco Park on June 20th, it was Jake Cronenworth who gave them a 7-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, with a 9th-inning homer off Joel Payamps. The 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers had also ended three consecutive home games with a homer, but one of them had come in extra innings.

The Padres sealed a postseason slot in one of the most spectacular fashions one can imagine: on September 24th, they sealed a 4-2 win against the Dodgers when Miguel Rojas grounded into a game-ending triple play started by 3B Manny Machado. It was the Padres' first triple killing since 2010. Best of all, the play happened with Shohei Ohtani in the on-deck circle.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Luis Arraez, Jackson Merrill, Jurickson Profar, Robert Suarez and Fernando Tatis Jr.
• NL Silver Slugger Award: Manny Machado (3B), Jackson Merrill (OF) and Jurickson Profar (OF)
• MLB All-Rookie Team: Jackson Merrill (OF)

Further Reading

• AJ Cassavell: "How 2024 Padres will be different than '23", mlb.com, March 18, 2024. [1]
• AJ Cassavell: "Padres make walk-off HR history with another 9th-inning blast: Club is first to win 3 straight home games with a dinger in the 9th", mlb.com, June 21, 2024. [2]
• AJ Cassavell: "Padres turn game-ending triple play to stun Dodgers, clinch playoff berth", mlb.com, September 25, 2024. [3]
• AJ Cassavell: "Padres lock down NL's top Wild Card spot", mlb.com, September 28, 2024. [4]
• AJ Cassavell: "How Preller's plethora of moves crafted 2024 Padres' chemistry", mlb.com, October 3, 2024. [5]
• Thomas Harrigan: "Everything you need to know about the Seoul Series: Dodgers and Padres set to open 2024 season in South Korea on March 20-21", mlb.com, March 14, 2024. [6]

2024 MLB season by team