Padres troll upset fans with surprising response vs Brewers after clinching berth

The Padres couldn’t even enjoy a champagne shower without hearing about it the next morning. Less than 24 hours after clinching a playoff spot, the conversation on social media wasn’t about celebrating October baseball for the fourth time in six years — it was about the lineup card.

Padres fans, still buzzed off the celebration themselves, woke up to see Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill nowhere to be found on Tuesday’s sheet. The reaction? Panic. Memes. Overreactions. The dreaded phrase “punting the division” started circulating before the first pitch was even thrown.

Padres rest stars, troll doubters, and blank Brewers in surprising fashion

It didn’t matter that San Diego had clinched, that champagne corks had flown, or that tequila had been passed around in the clubhouse like a pre-planned parade. Fans wanted the A-team in the lineup, not what was quickly dubbed “the hungover lineup.” Critics argued the Padres were essentially waving a white flag in the division race, ignoring the slim but still-alive chance to catch the Dodgers, or the opportunity to clinch home field advantage in a Wild Card series. And let’s be honest: the lineup card didn’t help their case. 

But here’s where the trolling came in. Instead of mailing it in, that so-called “hungover” group went out and treated the Brewers like the ones nursing a headache. Vásquez set the tone with a career-defining performance — seven innings, just one hit, and zero earned runs. The bullpen followed suit, with Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui locking things down in the 8th and 9th. The end result? A 7-0 shutout that not only silenced the critics but shaved the Padres’ magic number for home-field advantage in the Wild Card round down to two.

The best part is how effortlessly the Padres managed to flip the script. By resting their stars, they trolled the “division or bust” crowd while proving they could still roll out depth pieces and cruise past the NL number one seed. Fans had called it a throwaway game. The Padres turned it into a statement win. That’s the kind of swagger you want heading into October — the ability to laugh at yourself while still burying the other guy on the scoreboard.

In the end, it was the perfect blend of trolling and timing. The Brewers got blanked, the doubters got humbled, and the Padres reminded everyone that depth wins in October just as much as star power. Yes, Machado, Tatis, and Merrill will be back in the lineup when the games matter most. But for one night, the “hungover lineup” became the hangover cure. And if that doesn’t perfectly capture the energy of this Padres team heading into the postseason, what does?

More San Diego Padres News and Rumors