Padres’ third straight October offensive collapse is officially an organizational problem

You can change the manager, but the postseason results have been the same over the past three seasons. The Padres can point to Manny Machado’s drive dying in Garrett Mitchell’s glove. Or they can revisit Ty France’s encounter with the roof cable in Milwaukee.

None of it changes the truth that San Diego’s offense has now vanished from three consecutive postseasons. The Padres ended the 2024 NLDS with 24 straight scoreless innings. They followed that with a .189/.243/.305 slash line during their 2025 Wild Card Series loss to the Cubs. Then came a .181/.278/.236 performance against the Brewers in the 2026 NLDS.

Three different postseasons, the same bats disappearing. Craig Stammen pushed back against folding all those failures into one convenient narrative. He praised the quality of the Padres’ at-bats against Milwaukee and correctly pointed out that postseason hitters face an exhausting parade of premium arms. That’s true. There are very few soft spots in the postseason. Every matchup is designed to expose a weakness. But the Padres still have to hit.

The Padres have run out of innocent explanations

One cold series can happen to anyone. The concern in San Diego is the repetition.

In 2024, the Padres stood one win away from eliminating the Dodgers and then went silent for two full games. In 2025, they barely cracked a .300 slugging percentage against the Cubs. This year, they finished their season without a hit in their final 21 at-bats.

Milwaukee reached base more often and produced more damage when it did. The Brewers received defining swings from William Contreras and Jackson Chourio. San Diego managed two home runs and one double across the entire Division Series.

They were close. But postseasons are filled with “close.” Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill made this offense dangerous during the second half, then combined to hit .147 in the NLDS. 

A.J. Preller has an offensive problem to solve

The Padres won 91 games. They reached the playoffs for a third consecutive season. They advanced through the Wild Card round and pushed baseball’s best regular-season team through four tight games that could’ve gone either way. Those accomplishments deserve recognition while also raising the standard.

Preller cannot approach this offseason as though San Diego merely needs a little more depth and better fortune. The Padres need another hitter capable of changing a postseason game before an elite bullpen locks the door. They don’t need to apologize for losing a close series to a 103-win Brewers team. They need to stop pretending the manner of defeat was unique.

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