It’s the same question every year.
Who has enough pitching to win it all?
The 1984 Padres looked like they did…until the World Series, when their starters crumbled.
The 1998 Padres seemed to.
Then Kevin Brown took a liner to the shin, Donne Wall tossed a fat one and Mark Langston piped a fastball to Tino Martinez with the bases loaded – yes, one pitch after an ump’s error cost him strike three.
As for the 2024 Padres, a blinking yellow light appeared on their dashboard Wednesday night in the person of Joe Musgrove leaving after just 44 pitches with a 5-1 lead, two outs and the bases empty in the fourth inning of Game 2 in the best-of-three Wild Card series.
Musgrove handed the ball to manager Mike Shildt after speaking with a team trainer, Shildt and pitching coach Ruben Niebla following catcher Kyle Higashioka’s call for timeout with seven seconds left on the pitch clock. The Padres said Musgrove was suffering from right elbow tightness.
Perhaps the Padres were just exercising “an abundance of caution,” as sports teams say, by enlisting a deep, well-rested bullpen to get the final 16 outs, which they did, holding off the Braves for a 5-4 victory that will send San Diego to Dodger Stadium for the best-of-five Divisional Series beginning Saturday in a rematch of 2022 set won by The Padres..
And if Musgrove suffered a physical setback, clouding his status for the rest of the postseason?
Sure, the task of winning 11 more games just got tougher.
But good pitching depth is one of this team’s prominent strengths.
Moreso than any other Padres playoff team and most of the other teams in this World Series tournament, the Padres have the arms to overcome a pitcher of Musgrove’s caliber being absent for any length of time.
They have a pair of co-aces in Dylan Cease and Michael King, who each ranked among the big leagues’ strikeout leaders this season.
Tuesday in the series opener, King shut out the Braves for seven innings. He and the relievers combined for 15 strikeouts.
Behind them, older veterans Yu Darvish and Martin Perez are capable of holding down most any lineup for about five innings.
After A.J. Preller obtained him from the Pirates at the July 30 trade deadline, the left-handed Perez averaged six innings per start and recorded a 2.61 ERA before struggling in the meaningless 162nd game Sunday.
Darvish is relatively fresh, missing most of the season for health and personal reasons. He returned in September. Reprising his vast array of pitches, the master of spin recorded a 2.78 ERA over his final four starts, spanning 22.2 innings.
In his final start, swingman Randy Vásquez shut out the Diamondbacks on one hit over six innings Saturday.
The bullpen boasts a pair of closers in Robert Suarez and lefty Tanner Scott, and several other pitchers who have at least one “wow” pitch.
In retrospect, the constant injury concerns hovering over Darvish and Musgrove the past two seasons helped effect a deeper pitching now. Preller took appropriate action, adding pitching throughout the offseason, spring training and then July, when he trading for three relievers and Perez.
Perhaps boding well for him in coming days or weeks, Musgrove aced his comeback from arm ailments. Last Thursday at Dodger Stadium against L.A.’s best lineup, he took a shutout into the seventh inning. Inducing multiple whiffs on four different types of pitches, he was dominant until Will Smith clubbed a fastball for a tying two-run homer.
He was nearly as sharp Wednesday, following a bumpy first inning in which a misplaced cut fastball and a high fastball were hit hard, leading to a run. His fastball speed was up 1.4 mph, and his sweeper got three whiffs.
The job will get tougher for all Padres pitchers. Hot weather forecast for coming days will increase drives’ carry, and L.A. hitting lineup may be MLB’s best.
But the Padres have as much good pitching as anyone still playing — including the Dodgers.
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