Ex-Padres manager Mike Shildt’s reason for leaving is an unsettling peek behind the curtain

Mike Shildt didn’t leave San Diego because he suddenly forgot how to manage. He left because the job ate him alive. And the details should make some people a little uneasy about what this chair does to the person sitting in it.

When Shildt retired after the 2025 season, he framed it as a health-and-life decision. ESPN reported Shildt said “the grind of the baseball season has taken a severe toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally,” adding that it was time to “take care of myself.” MLB.com called it an “unexpected retirement” after two of the most successful seasons in franchise history. 

Padres’ Shildt fallout quietly exposes a painful organizational pattern

Then the Washington Post pulled the curtain back further. Shildt described the move as “a leap of faith,” and put it in blunt, human terms: he was tired of being the “principal” and wanted to get back to being the “teacher.” Shildt said that around the halfway point of the 2025 season, he told trusted people he was already thinking about pivoting at year’s end because he wanted “more harmony” and the season “took a toll.” 

Midseason. So, while the Padres were still in the thick of it. That’s not a guy who lost a clubhouse. It’s a guy who realized the Padres’ managerial job can be a pressure cooker with the lid welded on.

Unfortunately for San Diego this isn’t a one-off. There is the reality that none of the Padres’ last three managers lasted longer than two seasons. That’s serious organizational churn, and living in a constant state of emergency, where every season feels like it’s judged against a World Series standard and a daily stress test.

Shildt landing with the Orioles less than eight weeks later, in a teaching-focused instructor role, makes the point even louder: he didn’t fall out of love with baseball — he fell out of love with what managing in San Diego demanded from him. 

By no means is this a hit piece on the Padres. It’s more like a warning sign. If the job keeps burning through capable leaders, eventually it stops being about the leaders. It becomes about the environment, and whether the organization is built to sustain the humans tasked with carrying it.