Padres choke their way out of NLDS with insane scoreless steak in Game 5 loss

Just a few days ago, the San Diego Padres had a 2-1 NLDS lead with the Los Angeles Dodgers completely on the ropes. It really looked like it was was over. The Friars felt like the World Series favorites.

Just a few days later, the Padres were eliminated from the postseason. They lost Game 5 of the NLDS in Los Angeles and went on an unthinkable 24-inning scoreless streak to end their 2024 campaign. There are plenty of ways to watch the ship sink. That is, hands down, the most unbearable.

San Diego last scored in the bottom of the second inning of Game 3, when Manny Machado's creative baserunning maneuver opened the floodgates to the tune of a six-run beatdown. The Padres nearly blew that one, though. The Dodgers hit a grand slam in the top of the third before going cold, losing the game 6-5.

Since then, LA has outscored the Padres 10-0 despite an overworked cast of relievers and a wildly incomplete starting rotation. For a moment, it was believed that the Dodgers' bullpen game threw the Padres off, and there was a legitimate argument to be made there. It's incredibly difficult to face eight different pitchers in a single game, which is what the Padres had to do when the Dodgers unloaded their 'pen on them in their 8-0 Game 4 win.

But two days later, Yoshinobu Yamamoto shut down the Padres over five scoreless innings in Game 5 before Dave Roberts turned it over to his other arms. The Japanese right-hander allowed two runs and a walk on just 63 pitches after getting rocked by the very same lineup in Game 1.

Over the final two games of the series, the Padres went 9-for-62 with just three walks and two extra-base hits. They struck out 15 times. They went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. What was looking like one of the most promising seasons in the modern era ended up one of the biggest letdowns, as the Padres let the hobbled and underwhelming Dodgers off the hook.

It's the same result the fanbase and organization has been accustomed to for far too long, but this one's going to eat away at the Padres and their fans for the next few months, especially with plenty of offseason moves on the horizon. This was not the outcome anybody wanted in a year in which the team was supposed to fight for the late Peter Seidler. It was not the outcome anybody expected after the Padres became the hottest team in MLB after starting the season 50-50.

And it happened in a swift two-and-a-half-hour game. Not sure it could've been worse than that.