Catcher Elias Díaz (17) and third base Manny Machado (13) speak to pitcher Michael King (34) during a regular season game against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 21, 2025, at Rate Field in Chicago. Two of them may not be back in 2026. (Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire)
A season with high hopes and great expectations again ended far earlier than many Padres fans wanted.
After having gone toe-to-toe in last season’s playoffs with the Dodgers, the eventual World Series champs, during the Division Series, San Diego bowed out in the first round with Thursday’s loss to the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series.
What went wrong? And what’s next? Here are some key takeaways from the Padres’ 2025 season.
Inconsistent production
The Wild Card series was a fair representation of the Padres’ hot-and-cold offense during the season, including the team’s two superstars.
In the decisive game of the Wild Card series, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado
combined for zero hits and zero runs. Tatis Jr. struck out three times in four at-bats – not what
you want in a win-or-go-home game from a player of his caliber.
Machado led the way in Game 2, with a two-run homer. Tatis, who was on base at the time, scored two runs and added a hit in the 3-0 win. But neither was a factor at the plate during the 3-1 loss that opened the series.
Pitchers were dominant on both sides in the series with the Cubs, but the Padres as a team scored just five runs in the three games, not an unusual development given that they had a season-long …
Power outage
A separate, but similar issue for the team this season was a lack of power hitting. San Diego
managed just 142 homers, next-to-last in all of baseball. The team with the most homers? The
rival Dodgers with 244.
Machado led the team with 25 home runs this season, Tatis Jr. was second with 22 and
Gavin Sheets followed with 19.
And as a team, San Diego finished 18th in runs scored.
During the offseason, general manager A.J. Preller may look to add a difference-making slugger or two to the lineup, just as he did by augmenting the bullpen with …
Dependable arms
One of the team’s strengths this season was on the mound. Three of the team’s pitchers –
relievers Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon, along with closer Robert Suarez, were 2025 All-Stars. Starter Nick Pivetta was also a key contributor.
But cracks started to show late in the season due to injuries. Adam missed the rest of the season after rupturing a quadriceps tendon in September. Jhony Brito suffered a forearm strain, resulting in him missing the remainder of the season as well.
Additionally, Joe Musgrove missed the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, while
Yu Darvish spent significant time rehabbing his elbow. So, it might serve the team to look for younger available arms, which brings us to …
Ripping up the roster
Some baseball observers already predict that a roster revamp is likely for the Padres.
The team’s free agents include Dylan Cease, Luis Arráez, Jose Iglesias and Ryan
O’Hearn. Those with club or player options include pitcher Michael King ($15 million mutual
option with a $3.75 million buyout); Suarez, who can opt out of the final two years of his contract, as can Wandy Peralta; Kyle Hart, who has a $5 million club option with a $500,000 buyout; catcher Elias Díaz ($7 million mutual option with $2 million buyout), and outfielder Ramón Laureano ($6.5 million club option).
It remains to be seen which players will be kept and which will be traded or allowed to
walk, but will …
Preller still be in charge?
Preller told MLB.com last month that “the more opportunity we get to get in there,” meaning the postseason – “the more chances you have to have that one year to make it special and go all the way.”
But again, that didn’t happen. And the Padres have hollowed out their once vaunted farm system – which raises a question. Is patience for Preller, whose tenure as general manager began in 2014, running thin in San Diego?
His best showing came in 2022 when the Friars eliminated a Dodger squad that had 111 wins in the regular season, earning them a shot at the NL pennant. But the Padres fell to the Phillies in five games. The World Series has remained out of reach since 1998, yet …
Fans – a record-setting number – are on board
Friar fans rarely have something in common with Dodger fans, but both clubs set new all-time attendance records in 2025. The number at Petco Park – 3,437,201.
The Padres have made the postseason in four of the past six seasons, a stretch that followed a mostly dismal decade that included four last-place finishes. That’s progress. But everyone still awaits that one special year.
Times of San Diego staff contributed to this report.
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