LUKAS BLANKENSTEIN/ CONTRIBUTOR 

After a shaky start to the season, the Padres have rebounded to make the playoffs and defeat the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card round. San Diego’s only current professional sports team has renewed hope in what is often seen as one of America’s most cursed sports cities.

After a disappointing campaign last year where the Padres missed the playoffs, the Padres were expected to take a step back this season. According to ESPN, they only had a 32% chance to make the playoffs. A large amount of that was the Padres decision to lower their payroll over the off-season. 

In addition to losing numerous other important players, the Padres lost both their best starting pitcher, Blake Snell, and closer (the pitcher who is brought in to end close games), Josh Hader, in free agency, where a player whose contract has just ended is able to sign with a different team. 

Most importantly though, the Padres traded Juan Soto, who finished sixth in MVP voting and had won four straight Silver Slugger awards, the annual award given to the best offensive player at their position last season, for four other MLB players and one young prospect. The only big off-season addition that the Padres made was for pitcher Dylan Cease, but for many it wasn’t seen as enough to improve the team. 

In their preseason preview ESPN ranked the Padres as the No. 13 team in the league, giving the following justification.

“The 2024 Padres are less talented than the 2023 version, even after their recent addition of Dylan Cease,” Jorge Castillo wrote for ESPN.

For the first 100 games of the season, it looked like the doubters may have been right as the Padres were 50-50. And according to Fangraphs, they only had 34.5% chance to make the playoffs. However, the  Padres  went  on a tear throughout the league after that, finishing the season on a 43-19 run to clinch the top wild card spot and the crucial home field advantage against the Atlanta Braves. 

It was expected that if the Padres were to make a deep run, their stars like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Yu Darvish, would have to have incredible seasons to carry the team. While they have been great, they have not been the Padres most valuable players.

According to Baseball Reference’s WAR (wins above replacement), the most common ways to measure player value, the most valuable players have all been new additions to the team. In addition to the previously mentioned Dylan Cease, who has been the second most valuable player, there have been a series of three  new  faces at  the top: Jackson Merrill (first), Michael King (third) and Jurickson Profar (fourth). 

Jackson Merrill is a rookie center fielder who had not yet had a big league at bat before the 2024 season started. He was a prospect with moderate acclaim who was expected to be a decent player. What was not expected was for him to become the Padres most valuable player. Merrill has stamped his mark on the lineup with a .826 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging), good  for third on the team, while  also  playing  one of the most important positions in the field. He has firmly placed himself one  of  the favorites for rookie of the year, with most publications and sports books deeming  it a toss up between himself and Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. 

Another  unexpected face at the top of the WAR charts is Michael King, a career relief pitcher who was sent from the New York Yankees to the Padres as a part of the Juan Soto trade. The Yankees sold high on King after the best year of his career. 

Micheal King pitches for the Padres. Photo courtesy of @officalmikeking/Instagram

While King struggled to adapt to being a full time starter at the beginning of the year, he has turned into one of the best starters in the league. He currently has the ninth lowest ERA (Earned Run Average) of any starter at 2.95. He was also given the honors of being the starter for the Padres first playoff game, giving him the reins for their most important game of the season.

The final new name to make a big impact for the Padres is Jurickson Profar. Profar is a 31-year-old career journeyman outfielder who was cut last season by one of the worst performing teams in the league, the Colorado Rockies. He joined the Padres following this and played in 14 games for them last season. He did enough to earn himself a $1 million dollar deal, and has flourished. This season, he has the best OPS on the Padres at .839. 

The Padres have created a ton of excitement across the city of San Diego, including at USD. Matt Pearson, USD  senior and lifelong Padres fan, was in attendance for the Padres first playoff game.

“The atmosphere is absolutely electric at the playoffs,” Pearson said. “The fans are fully immersed in the game.” 

While the Padres success is exciting, many feel as though they have seen this story play out before. San Diego is often seen as an unlucky sports city, as they are the largest metropolitan area to not have a championship in any of the five major leagues. The only championship they have won was the 1963 AFL championship, which was won before the AFL-NFL merger and creation of the superbowl. Currently, the Padres are San Diego’s only sports team in the five major sports leagues, although there will be a new MLS team next year.

Luis Valdes Perez, a USD senior that has been a Padres fan since he moved to San Diego eight years ago, explained why he feels this year is different.

“It is true that San Diego is widely known as a ‘cursed city’ with good reason,” Valdes Perez said. “But the reason why it feels different is the attitude of the team. It’s a  fun team to watch, and the clubhouse is full of players that know what their role is and are willing and able to perform, as well as having fun which is the fundamental piece of baseball.” 

The Padres will need all that mojo if they want to take down their biggest rivals, the Dodgers, who have the best record in the league. But they have done it before, “slaying the dragon” in 2022  to send the Dodgers crashing out of the playoffs. Whether they can do it again remains to be unknown, but that doesn’t change some  people’s opinion that this season and year feels different.

Jackson Merrill & Jurickson Profar celebrating on field. Photo courtesy of @_jacksonmerrill_/Instagram