Padres Can’t Let Up Now After Clinching Postseason Berth

The San Diego Padres are going to the postseason for the first time in a while, but they can’t get complacent as this team has more to accomplish.

I know it sounds kind of crazy to think that this San Diego Padres team could potentially lose some steam after all they’ve been through, but that’s the temptation they face in the final week of the regular season.

This final week of the season might be the hardest week of the season for new manager Jayce Tingler as he has to keep the guys sharp even though they’re playing somewhat meaningless games.

The Padres aren’t likely to overtake the Dodgers for the division t this point being four games back, and it’s even less likely that a second-place team from another division overtakes the Padres for the four-seed.

So even though the Padres have four regular-season games left, they pretty much know they’re fate and are just waiting to see who their opponent will be.

However, I’ve seen this scenario play out several times throughout my life as I grew up watching a Braves team that clinched in early September every year and then eased up to prepare for the playoffs.

And once you do that, it’s hard to turn the intensity back up.

Perhaps this team is young enough, and knows how long of a drought it has been for this franchise, that it will be easy to get those juices flowing again once the playoffs being.

But something else you have to consider is that there won’t be any fans at these games. In a normal season Petco Park would be rocking as the Padres entered the postseason for the first time since 2006.

They won’t have that kind of energy to feed off of.

That’s why I think it’s important for Tingler to keep throwing out his best lineup and keep trying to win these seemingly meaningless games.

Look for any kind of motivation to get them fully engaged through these last six games.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is battling for an MVP, Dinelson Lamet possibly a Cy Young, and the Giants are battling for a playoff spot.

They need any kind of extra motivation they can get right now to make sure that when the postseason comes they’re firing on all cylinders.