Padres made even more baseball history with game-ending triple play than we thought

It isn't often that fans get to see a triple play turned at all, let alone the one that the surging San Diego Padres did against the Dodgers to secure their spot in the 2024 playoffs. Only one other happened this season: the Phillies turned an unusual 1-3-5 triple play against the Tigers back in June. The Padres hadn't been able to turn one since 2010 when Chase Headley made it happen against the Mets.

The play started by Machado has obviously been making rounds across the baseball world for its rarity and the circumstances behind it. There are precious few sweeter ways to clinch a playoff spot than against a hated division rival with the best hitter in baseball on deck in the ninth inning. It was beautiful.

However, the Padres made more history than just turning a triple play on Tuesday, as they created a club all to themselves with their latest accomplishment.

Padres' playoff-clinching triple play vs Dodgers made unique MLB history

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. Obviously each one of these accomplishments range from "really hard and rare" to "nearly impossible to pull off," but the Padres have made them all happen in 2024. That speaks to how high a ceiling that his San Diego team has and also how hard they compete until the final out.

Here is a non-exhaustive rundown of when the Padres achieved each milestone:

• Padres just turned their first triple play since 2010 to clinch a playoff spot on 9/24
• Dylan Cease threw a complete game no-hitter on 7/25
• Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Donovan Solano went back-to-back-to-back just a week ago on 9/18, which was the first time San Diego had done so since 1997 when Rickey Henderson was a Padre
• San Diego came back from eight runs down against the Cubs way back on 4/8

A lot of people have been saying that there is just something different about this Padres team. Perhaps they have more of an edge under Mike Shildt; or they just made really smart decisions on which players to add and which to let leave; or it is just good ol' fashioned luck breaking their way. The one thing we know is that San Diego is capable of just about anything at any given game, and they have the receipts to prove it.

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