Errors doom Padres' NL West hopes, and now deep playoff run could take a massive hit

The San Diego Padres are in the playoffs, but their hopes of winning of the NL West Division championship evaporated on Thursday night, and the Los Angeles Dodgers will wear the crown once again. The Friars were cruising right along, and then ... kaboom!

In what was a must-win game for the Pads — if they had any hope of winning the division for the first time since 2006 — turned into a route rather quickly after a comedy of errors in the seventh inning opened the floodgates. LA pounced on the miscues and put up a five-spot. The Dodgers would go on to win by the final of 7-2.

Padres' NL West hopes dashed after 7th-inning collapse vs Dodgers

The seventh inning began with a leadoff walk to Max Muncy. Padres' starter Joe Musgrove, who'd been fantastic through six innings, then surrendered a game-tying home run to Will Smith and was pulled one batter later. Things did not improve once Tanner Scott entered the game.

Padres manager Mike Shildt went to the southpaw, and Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts countered with the right-handed hitting Enrique Hernandez in place of the lefty Gavin Lux. Hernandez laced a single into the outfield, and then calamity struck the San Diego defense.

Catcher's interference was called against Kyle Higashioka during the next at-bat. Scott had Andy Pages on the ropes, but while swinging 0-2, Pages nicked Higashioka's mitt with his bat and reached first base without contact. Shohei Ohtani then ripped an RBI-single between first and second base, and an overthrow by Fernando Tatis Jr. allowed the likely NL MVP to reach second.

With the score now 3-2, Mookie Betts added two more runs with a line drive to right field that scored Pages and Ohtani. Before the Padres could blink, their 2-0 lead had turned into a 5-2 deficit, and San Diego never recovered. LA added two more in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a Pages' homer.

Padres playoff, World Series path became much more difficult

While the Padres seemed to have the Dodgers' number earlier this season, San Diego let two games slip away and will now host the NL Wild Card Series next week rather than get a first-round bye. Though an argument can be made that teams receiving the extra rest don't perform as well in the NLDS, it sure would have been nice to dethrone the Dodgers this season.

Instead, the Friars will have to win an extra series if they hope to achieve their goal of bringing a World Series trophy back to America's Finest City. The Padres are now locked into the No. 4 seed in the National League and can set their playoff rotation for the upcoming series at Petco Park.

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