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After securing a spot in the 2026 postseason, the San Diego Padres are back at Petco Park to wrap up the regular season against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks enter the series needing a victory to remain in the postseason chase. Meanwhile, the Padres are focused on locking down the top wild-card position, which would grant them the opportunity to host a wild-card series.
Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller emphasized the importance of securing a home playoff series during Thursday's celebration. "We love playing in front of our fans at Petco," Preller said. "We're a very good team at home. We'll talk about it the next couple days. It's the next to-do list for us." All-Star closer Mason Miller echoed that sentiment, stating, "Just trying to get a home playoff series at Petco. We know how special that place is."
The Padres and Diamondbacks have split their 10 meetings this season, with each team winning five games.
Pitching Matchup
Right-hander Casey Mize will start Friday night for the Padres, aiming to solidify his spot on the wild-card roster. Since being acquired at the trade deadline, Mize has struggled, posting a 6.64 ERA with 24 strikeouts and 17 walks over 40.2 innings in nine starts. He has faced the Diamondbacks twice this season: once with the Tigers, allowing one run over six innings with nine strikeouts, and once with the Padres, surrendering eight runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings. Opposing him will be right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who owns a 3.72 ERA over 128.1 innings this season. In three appearances (two starts) against the Padres, Pfaadt has a 2.45 ERA across 14.2 innings.
Padres Starting Lineup
- Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
- Dustin Harris, RF
- Manny Machado, DH
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Luis Campusano, C
- Jake Cronenworth, 3B
- Samad Taylor, LF
How to Watch
First pitch for the Padres vs. Diamondbacks game on Friday, Sept. 25 is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PT / 9:40 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Padres.TV and the MLB app. Additionally, the Padres announced that the game will be available via cable on the following channels: Cox (Channel 83), DirecTV (Channel 694-3), AT&T Uverse (Channel 781 or 1781), and Spectrum (Channel 305 or 443). Radio broadcasts will be on 97.3 The Fan (English) and XEMO 860 (Spanish).
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Noah Camras graduated from the University of Southern California in 2022 with a B.A. in Journalism and a minor in sports media studies. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and has extensively covered Southern California sports in his career. Noah is the publisher of Padres on SI after contributing as a writer and editor over the last three years.