Everything that went wrong for the Padres in the 2026 NLDS against the Brewers

It’s not like the Padres got embarrassed by the Brewers. Honestly, that kind of makes it worse. Every game of the 2026 NLDS was decided by two runs or fewer. The Padres were never buried. They were beaten to the handful of moments that decided the series.

A roof cable swallowed a potential go-ahead homer. Jake Cronenworth missed a season-altering ground ball by inches. Mason Miller lost the strike zone while trying to execute a six-out save. The offense disappeared. And Manny Machado sent one final spark through Petco Park, only for Garrett Mitchell to track it down at the wall.

That’s how a season dies without ever looking dead. We can blame it on bad luck, and the Padres received enough of it to fill an entire postseason. But luck didn’t walk three batters in the ninth inning of Game 2 nor did it leave the bases loaded in Game 4. The Padres lost a series they were good enough to win. Here’s how they let it get away.

The baseball gods treated the Padres like a chew toy

Ty France’s ninth-inning drive in Game 1 looked like the swing that would have stolen the opener. It left his bat at 105.3 mph with San Diego trailing 3-2 and a runner aboard.

Then it hit a cable hanging from the roof at American Family Field and landed in Jackson Chourio’s glove. Instead of a potential go-ahead homer, France had one of the cruelest outs imaginable.

That set the tone of the series. The Padres kept coming within inches of changing things around and repeatedly watched Milwaukee grab those inches first.

In Game 2, Chourio’s walk-off single slipped beyond Cronenworth’s glove and into center field. Cronenworth nearly got it. Jackson Merrill nearly threw out the winning run. Neither nearly mattered.

The final insult arrived in Game 4. With Fernando Tatis Jr. aboard and San Diego trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning, Machado crushed a 106.7 mph drive toward right-center. The ball traveled a projected 406 feet and would have cleared the fence in 19 major-league parks. Petco Park was not one of them.

Mitchell reached the wall, left his feet and made the catch.  It was a fitting ending. San Diego spent four games standing one break away from taking control.

The Padres’ offense disappeared again

The Padres loaded the bases in the first inning of Game 4 and came away empty when Xander Bogaerts popped out. Tatis briefly woke up Petco Park with a no-doubt homer to center in the third. Then the lineup went quiet again. Milwaukee’s bullpen took over after the fourth inning and didn’t allow another hit.

The Brewers made the Padres earn everything, and their hitters couldn’t do it often enough.

The season-ending Machado drive will be remembered because it was inches from tying the game. It doesn’t erase the opportunities that preceded it. The Padres gave Milwaukee far too many comfortable outs before Mitchell ever reached the wall.

San Diego’s bullpen advantage collapsed under the weight

The Padres built their postseason identity around a deep, overpowering bullpen. By Game 4, that supposed advantage had been stretched too far. Perhaps the Padres shouldn’t have carried 15 bats. 

Miller was one strike away from completing a six-out save in Game 2. Adrian Morejón was down after pitching two innings the night before and Craig Stammen had limited options. 

The complications piled up from there. Miller missed Game 3 while on the paternity list. Adrian Morejon’s fatigued left shoulder kept him out of the final three games. Michael King had to record the last six outs of Game 3 after starting Game 2, giving him 112 pitches across three days.

Walker Buehler failed to complete four innings in Game 4, sending Stammen back into a bullpen that had already been bent into uncomfortable shapes. Meanwhile, Milwaukee received three hitless innings from Aaron Ashby before Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill finished the job.

That was supposed to be San Diego’s formula. Instead, Milwaukee’s bullpen allowed three runs in the entire series, only one earned. Padres relievers surrendered seven, six of them earned.

The Padres lost a potential homer to a roof cable and another to a center fielder’s glove. Few postseason exits come with that much visual evidence of how close the margins can be.

But this was not only a story about cruel bounces. The Padres stranded opportunities, lost the strike zone and asked an exhausted pitching staff to survive without offensive support. They were also several missed opportunities away from deserving a different ending.

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