With or without the National League West title in hand, the San Diego Padres could have a heavy and potentially postseas-changing decision to take in the wildcard round.
San Diego played 6.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday and 9.0 games behind the Milwaukee Bewers in the general classification of the National League, which means that the Padres will not have any doorm in this year’s late season. That also means that the Padres will be part of the best-of-three Wildcard round to open the late season.
Of The Wildcard schedule On consecutive days between September 30 and October 2, a potential game 3 for the Padres would mean that manager Mike Shildt should make a difficult decision about who will start that match.
The first two starters for the Padres in the Wildcard round seem to settle, with Nick Pivetta and Michael King probably pulling the starts. After that, however, the choices would be interesting for a game 3 -elimination -matchup.
San Diego has three realistic game 3 options in Dylan Stleep, Yu Darvish and Randy Vasquez, but none of the three brings a sense of safety after seasons.
Cese has thrown better this month and has placed an ERA of 3.43 in four starts of 21.0 innings. His last start against the Chicago White Sox on September 19, however, did little to illuminate concerns about his inconsistency, because he allowed four hits and four runs while walking three more than 6.0 innings.
Darvish has 13 late season under his belt in his 13-year-old MLB career, including a few last season for San Diego when he kept the Los Angeles Dodgers on three runs and six hits about 13.2 innings in the National League Division Series. His 5.12 ERA in September, however, starts more than 19.1 Innings is worrying.
Vasquez has the least references of the three options and this season has placed a general 3.94 ERA in 26 games (25 Starts) (the lowest of the age of the three pitchers). However, his 4,98 FIP suggests that there has been some luck this season so far. Moreover, his 1,361 whip is the highest of every current Padres starter.
Every potential pitcher in a Game 3-winner-scenario has its own set of problems, a serious care for Shildt and the Padres when the Wildcard round comes to that point.
In a best-case scenario for San Diego, Shildt never has to make that decision and he can worry about who the third starter will be in the division series. However, it is a very real opportunity that the great season of San Diego could come that the pitcher that Shildt believes can perform best in an elimination situation.
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