San Diego Padres fans were able to sleep peacefully on the night of Sunday, Oct. 2, after hearing the announcement that the San Diego Padres have clinched their first playoff berth in a full 162-game season since 2006.

A lot of fans were losing hope until news broke about the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins. Their loss meant the Padres would secure a spot for the 2022 playoffs.

The team celebrated after hearing the exciting news by spraying loads of champagne everywhere and cheering.

“Hard work pays off,” said third baseman Manny Machado in an interview with Marty Caswell.

“This team has been battling all year, we dealt with a lot of things, so to be here is a blessing and an honor.”

The crowd at the Oct. 2 home game at Petco Park was electric. Everyone discovered the news during the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox. Fans were on their feet cheering and soaking in how wonderful it is to be a Padres fan after having endured a long playoff drought.
“Okay, so, day one, we talked about what our goal was, our goal was to win a world series,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said in a video on Twitter posted on the Padre’s account.
“There are steps along the way. We got to the first one, there are a few more to party with, but I’ll tell you what, the first one should be celebrated and celebrated hard.”
The Padres currently have a total of 87 wins so far and 72 losses as of Oct. 3, 2022.
Ethan Cashetta, Grossmont College’s center fielder and pitcher, said of the team’s postseason prospects, “I hope the Padres win it all, but I don’t think they will. I think the (Atlanta) Braves are gonna go back to back. They are playing the best baseball out of all the teams right now, and if there’s a time to be hot, it’s right before postseason.”

He made it clear he does not want them to win but unfortunately feels like that is what will happen. The Atlanta Braves took the 2021 World Series against the Houston Astros with a 4-2 win.
Cashetta was asked what he thinks has helped the Padres get back to the playoffs and he believed it was due to their new rookies “playing like allstars”.

“Ha-Seong Kim, for the Padres, is a big standout. Tatis went out, but he stepped up. He stepped up big time,” Cashetta said about players who stood out most to him during the 2022 season.

Kim has been with the Padres since he first signed with them in Dec. 2020 and has a 0.249 batting average.

College’s first baseman Zavien Watson when asked about his thoughts on the postseason.“They’re playing the best baseball right now. I mean the Dodgers have the most wins, and the Braves are playing the best they’ve ever played since last year. I think it’s gonna be a seven-game series honestly.”

“You know, I think the Padres will end up beating the Mets, but I think who’s gonna win the world series comes in between the Braves and the Dodgers,” said Grossmont

Watson said he thinks Machado’s leadership the whole year helped the team get to this moment.
“Tatis went down, Machado kind of took over that leadership role, I mean he’s playing like an MVP right now, he’s done everything MVP all year.”
Watson also predicts the Padres pitchers outperform Mets pitchers Jacob Degrom and Max Scherzer.
After a delayed start due to the MLB lockout, and losing Fernando Tatis Jr. twice this season, the Padres are due for some good news.