Padres News: Ha-Seong Kim update, ugly Petco Park brawl, NL wild card picture

With the 2024 season winding down, there are a host of storylines with this San Diego Padres team. How will the recent returns of Yu Darvish and Fernando Tatis Jr. impact their fortunes down the stretch? Can Jackson Merrill keep up his torrid pace? How will the pitching staff hold up during what is a pretty brutal final few weeks of the season? That is but a small sample of the questions that will be answered by the end of September.

For the moment, things are going "fine" for the Padres. Being 5-5 in their last 10 games isn't ideal, but they still occupy a playoff spot for the moment and have some guys playing quite well. As for what happened over the weekend, well ... it was rather eventful.

Ha-Seong Kim's shoulder is not progressing as well as the Padres hoped

When Kim went on the IL with a shoulder issue, it threw the Padres' infield into a bit of disarray as his defensive ability is extremely hard to replace. The hope was that Kim would be able to bounce back reasonably quickly as no significant structural damage was detected and he was only prescribed some rest.

Unfortunately, Kim is still unable to throw across the diamond at full strength without discomfort in his shoulder. He has certainly made progress from where he was, but it doesn't sound like he is going to be hopping back in the Padres lineup in the near future, especially with the word that the team is looking at playing Bogaerts back at shortstop while Kim is on the shelf.

Brutal brawl outside of Petco Park yet another instance of questionable fan safety at Padres games

Earlier this season, we saw a massive fan brawl at Petco Park that got national attention for its brutality and prompted more calls for better security at games. Unfortunately, history repeated itself over the weekend as not only did the Giants have their own little skirmish in their dugout, but another fan brawl erupted at the Padres home park which was shared widely on social media.

Look, tempers are high at the moment as the playoff race is intense and these are two division rivals whose fan bases clearly hate each other. However, this is a recurring and serious problem, especially when the Giants and Padres meet up, so hopefully the team and city recognize the need for heightened security in these emotionally-heightened matchups.

Padres still at the top of NL wild card race ... for the moment

Despite falling short of completing a comeback against the Giants on Sunday, the Padres are still at the top of the NL wild card race at 81-64. Considering what the expectations were (at least outside the organization) before the 2024 season started, that is cause for celebration.

Unfortunately, the Padres' recent lull combined with the Diamondbacks falling back down to Earth has created a very tight race between four teams for just three wild card spots. The Padres, Diamondbacks, Braves, and Mets are all separated by just two games with Atlanta and New York tied for the last spot at the moment. Given how tough the Padres' schedule is the rest of the way, getting back to the postseason is far from a sure thing at the moment.

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