The ESPN insider didn’t pull any punches.
Though the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fanbase would disagree, the San Diego Padres’ 2024 season ended prematurely. The Friars were up 2-1 in the National League Division Series, but failed to score a run during the final two games which effectively ended their feel-good campaign.
Given how much the Padres invested into this year’s team, it’s been a difficult pill for the Friar faithful to swallow. San Diego added several key pieces to an already competitive roster, but the team’s failures in Games 4 and 5 of the NLDS sealed their fate with the ultimate goal of a World Series championship still unfulfilled.
Well-regarded ESPN columnist and baseball insider Jeff Passasn refused to give the Padres a pass after their exit from the MLB Postseason. In his latest column (subscription required), Passan dismisses the idea that the Dodgers were the better team. Instead, the ESPN personality claims that the Padres just blew it.
Jeff Passan lays into Padres with harsh postseason criticism after elimination
Passan’s thoughts mirror that of the Padres fanbase. San Diego’s loss in the NLDS wasn’t a case of the billion-dollar empire LA has built being better that the Friars, but rather the inability of Mike Shildt’s ball club to come up clutch when it mattered most.
The Padres were in the driver’s seat heading into Game 4 with a chance to wrap up the series and send the Dodgers crying all the way back to Chavez Ravine. But instead, San Diego allowed the Dodgers bullpen to best one of the game’s elite lineups. The Pads were shut out in Game 4, and then Yoshinobu Yamamoto and LA’s relief corps silenced San Diego’s bats once again in Game 5 to end the series with a 2-0 win in Game 5. It was embarrassing.
Passasn went as far as to say, “This was the Padres year.” Sheesh, that stings, doesn’t it Pads fans? But he’s not wrong. San Diego’s lineup, top to bottom, was better than what Los Angeles trotted out during the NLDS (yes, even with Shohei Ohtani leading off).
But Passan did offer some hope for the 2025 season, citing players like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill as reasons the Padres are set up well for the long haul. Either way, Friars fans have seen this movie before. San Diego had one of the best rosters in the majors during the 2023 season and didn’t even make it to October.
Baseball is a funny game, and the Padres fanbase can only hope that this year’s playoff failures will strengthen their resolve heading into 2025.
