Padres fell short in 2025; when will it finally be their year?

The San Diego Padres are facing a crucial elimination game against the Cubs. San Diego obviously needs to win today to advance in the postseason, but it feels like there is more to it than that. San Diego has a lot at stake in 2025.

If this is not the Padres' year, when will it be?

Padres' fans have been waiting for a World Series for a while now. This rendition of the Padres was built after nine straight losing seasons from 2011-2019. San Diego's soft rebuild in the late 2010s helped them build the roster they have today, featuring stars such as Fernando Tatis Jr, Jake Cronenworth, Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, and Xander Bogaerts.

Padres 2025 wasn’t it. When does the payoff arrive?

The Padres' toiled for years to build this roster, but so far, the Tatis-Machado Padres' have not delivered. An NLCS loss in 2020 was as close as they got. They followed it up with an NLDS loss in 2022 and another NLDS loss in 2024, sandwiched between missing the playoffs in 2021 and 2023.

This is the sixth season the Padres have been contenders in the NL, and if they are not able to at least reach the World Series, it will go down as another year San Diego failed to reach their expectations. If the team cannot reach the World Series this year, when will they?

San Diego is only getting older. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts are already probably past their prime, and it's hard to imagine they will improve in the future. Those contracts will catch up to the Padres soon.

The rotation, meanwhile, is looking like it could fall apart in free agency if Michael King and Dylan Cease both sign with other teams. Yu Darvish is probably nearing retirement, too. In the bullpen, Robert Suarez is expected to test free agency as well, and Jason Adam is a veteran with a new injury that could set him back next season.

And it's no secret that AJ Preller has almost completely flattened the farm system. There are no prospects coming to save the Padres next year. Ethan Salas, the clubs lone top 100 prospect, could be a solid catcher soon, but he's probably too young to expect any major contributions.

All that is to say, San Diego's window might be closing soon. Depending on how free agency goes this offseason, the window could begin to close as early as 2026.

So again, the question feels relevant. If 2025 is not the year the Padres win the World Series, when is it going to happen? It sure feels like the team needs to win soon to avoid a dissapointing collapse.