SAN DIEGO — Joe Musgrove stood in the middle of the clubhouse, near the center of a rager, sporting sunglasses and a T-shirt that exclaimed “OCTOBER READY” as puddles of beer formed around his feet. David Peralta came over and dumped a pair of Budweisers on his head. Musgrove whooped in delight.
This was not the face of dejection.
“I’m one guy of 26,” Musgrove said. “I’m not gonna let my bad day affect anybody else. There’s a lot we’ve gone through to get to this point. It deserves to be celebrated, and I don’t need to be dragging anybody down.”
A little more than two hours earlier, as the Padres held a commanding lead in the fourth inning at Petco Park, the pitcher had thrown the slowest pitch of his career — a curveball at 75.2 mph. Then he threw another, at 74.9 mph. He paused and shook his right arm. Catcher Kyle Higashioka called for time and jogged to the mound. Pitching coach Ruben Niebla left the dugout and joined them there. Manager Mike Shildt and team athletic trainer Ben Fraser soon followed.
Moments later, Musgrove walked off the field alongside Fraser and out of Game 2 of San Diego’s Wild Card Series. His right elbow had felt tight, he later revealed, throughout an abbreviated outing. It was the same elbow that had twice sent him to the injured list this season.
And it was the same elbow that helped send the Padres on a momentous Wednesday night to a two-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves. A rematch of the 2022 National League Division Series awaits Saturday at Dodger Stadium. There is a good chance Musgrove will not be an active member of the 2024 National League Division Series roster; he will undergo imaging on Thursday to determine the extent of the damage in his right arm.
And still, in whatever scenario ensues, he will remain an integral part of his team’s march through October.
“Joe is unbelievable,” Niebla said after a 5-4 victory that set off the Padres’ second clinching party in eight days. “Joe is, like, the ultimate competitor. Joe is the ultimate teammate. Joe is the guy we follow as a pitching staff. For what he does. For how he goes about his business.”
This was how Musgrove went about his business late Wednesday as Higashioka and first baseman Donovan Solano converged under a soaring popup in front of the Padres’ dugout: Musgrove stood along the nearby railing. He raised his left hand toward the sky. He clenched both fists in celebration as Higashioka tumbled over Solano but still managed to glove the ball. He smacked the railing.
The Padres, after his exit, had held on to beat the Braves. As chants of “Beat L.A.” rained down from another record-setting Petco Park crowd, the dugout emptied onto the field. The celebration was on. Musgrove included.
“It’s amazing,” right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “It shows what type of character, what type of man he is.”
“Joe’s the man,” center fielder Jackson Merrill said. “Joe’s always been the man.”
“That’s who Joe is,” Niebla said.
For three innings Wednesday, nothing especially alarming happened for the home team. Musgrove surrendered a run in the top of the first. The Padres loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. They struck out, grounded into a forceout and grounded into another, stranding all three runners. Then, after Musgrove retired the side in the second, something especially exciting happened.
With two outs and two strikes, Higashioka tied the game with his second homer in two nights. Luis Arraez followed with a line-drive single. Tatis legged out an infield single. Profar legged out an infield single. Manny Machado, who had struck out in the first, ripped a two-run double. Merrill demolished a pitch over the plate for a two-run triple. The Padres, when the dust had finally settled, led 5-1.
To get there, they had followed a familiar formula.
“You want to keep putting those opportunities on the board,” general manager A.J. Preller said. “Max Fried, one of the best pitchers in the league. So, you get done with that first — but we knew we weren’t done there. We knew we were gonna keep coming back, keep coming at them.”
The @Padres are the first team in MLB postseason history to get 6 consecutive hits and hit for the cycle in the same inning.
They did all of it with 2 outs. pic.twitter.com/Ays7ttpTFi
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 3, 2024
And Musgrove, it turned out, kept going until he felt he should go no longer. He struck out two batters in a perfect third. He struck out another to open the fourth. He got a groundout from Marcell Ozuna, the Braves’ most dangerous hitter.
But against Matt Olson, his elbow effectively shut down on him. As Musgrove walked off the mound, Shildt summoned long reliever Bryan Hoeing.
“If you’re not a pitcher, it’s very difficult to explain,” Musgrove said. “I just had a hard time getting to full extension and letting pitches go. There wasn’t a whole lot of confidence behind it. I had two outs in the inning; I was hoping to be able to get through the inning and then address it in between. But I didn’t make it to that point.”
That Musgrove even took the mound Wednesday might have been considered a remarkable outcome.
At the beginning of June, for the second time since April, he went on the injured list with right elbow inflammation. He had recently learned of the existence of a bone spur and a bone bruise in his elbow. To speed his healing, he had just gotten a platelet-rich plasma injection. He would rest for a month. Then, he would begin to tweak his delivery to put less stress on his elbow.
No one knew if any of it would work. Musgrove, though, chose to believe.
Speaking Tuesday, he described his confidence throughout a relatively inactive summer as “pretty high. I think any athlete will tell you, I think you have to create space for the ideal situation. I know I prepare mentally, physically as well as possible to give myself the opportunity to be back and healthy.”
He returned on Aug. 2. He went on to supply a 2.15 ERA over nine starts, as the Padres surged into October. It was revealed after Wednesday’s game that the tightness in his elbow had arisen sometime during that inspired stretch.
“Joe has in the past had some stuff that he just barrels through,” Niebla said. “And this is very similar, and I hope that we can barrel through this once again.”
“It’s frustrating,” Musgrove said. “I want to be out there and finish the job. This is the last thing I want in my first postseason outing. But that’s just the reality of it. It’s coming at a bad time, but I’ll address it, I’ll find the best possible path to get back and do my best to get back here as soon as I can.”
The Padres will learn more Thursday. In the meantime, Musgrove is choosing to believe he can come back at some point this month.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Oh, yeah.”
Two years ago, on Oct. 9, 2022, Musgrove pitched the game of his life to send the Padres to a National League Division Series. Six days later, the native San Diegan pitched a similarly impressive game to help his hometown team pull off one of the bigger upsets in postseason history. This weekend at Dodger Stadium, the two sides in that game will meet again with everything on the line.
This time, even without Musgrove, the Padres are no longer a heavy underdog.
“They’re an incredible team,” Preller said. “I mean, obviously, you’ve got (Shohei) Ohtani, (Mookie) Betts, (Freddie) Freeman at the top of the lineup — three Hall of Famers and all-time greats.”
And the Padres, even without Musgrove, will have Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish on ample rest. They’ll have burgeoning ace Michael King lined up after them. They’ll have a loaded bullpen that covered the final 5 1/3 innings of Wednesday’s victory. They’ll have perhaps the deepest, most resilient offense in the league. Yes, the Dodgers have possibly the greatest player ever, but unlike in 2022, the Padres will have Fernando Tatis Jr.
“Ahhh, just the energy. The energy. I can’t wait for it,” Tatis said. “I know Shohei is gonna show up and post and do the best he can. But we’re doing the same thing. So, let’s see what happens out here, and I have all the confidence in this group, and we’re just gonna find a way how to make it happen.”
The Padres have found ways for much of this season, including for weeks without Musgrove. He is only one of 26 players — even if his stature inside their clubhouse cannot be understated.
“Leading by example is one thing. He does it very, very well. And he was able to lead without actually performing on the field for a couple of months. It was impressive. Big part of why we’re here.”
The Padres, regardless of his forthcoming status, know he will be beside them.
The biggest series of the year begins Saturday.
“They’re a good team,” Musgrove said, “but we’re equally as good. We feel confident going in there.”
(Photo of Joe Musgrove: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
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