Petco Park is ready for postseason baseball after Padres' electrifying Wednesday win

The end of the 2024 season is upon us and the San Diego Padres are in tremendous shape to get another shot at a deep postseason run. As of Thursday, Sept. 19, Fangraphs has the Padres with a 99.6% of making the playoffs and a non-zero chance of chasing the Dodgers in the NL West for the division title.

To get to this point has required a lot to go right for San Diego. The front office put the team in a good position after a very late offseason trade for Dylan Cease, a surprising early deal for Luis Arráez, and a trade deadline that saw the Padres assemble arguably the best bullpen in the league. Combine that with breakout seasons from Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar to go along with San Diego's incumbent stars, and you have the recipe for their success.

After initially being down in the dumps when multiple star-level players walked in free agency, Juan Soto was traded away, and owner Peter Seidler passed, San Diego has quickly re-embraced this Padres team in a huge way.

Padres fans' support of team could be a huge advantage in the upcoming postseason

When it comes to performing well in the playoffs, it often comes down to energy and momentum. We have seen really, really good teams recently (the Dodgers and Braves, for example) come out flat and bounced from the playoffs early while others who peaked at the right time (Phillies, Diamondbacks, Rangers) and rode that deep into the playoffs.

The eye test suggests that the Padres are playing some of their best baseball right now with their dominant win over the likely playoff-bound Astros on Wednesday just the latest example. Helping the cause is the fact that Padres fans are showing up in droves to watch them do it and providing one of the best home park environments in MLB.

After 78 home games this year, the Padres rank fourth in all of baseball in average attendance at 40,951 just behind the Yankees and Phillies. Despite the lack of a TV deal of note, San Diego fans have remained engaged and given this team the boost of energy and support they deserve. Time will tell if they can parlay this fan enthusiasm into wins during the postseason, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have huge and raucous crowds behind them.

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