Half a Game. That's What Separates San Diego From the Final NL Wild Card Spot Tonight.
Half a game. That's the entire distance between San Diego and Arizona for the National League's final wild card spot entering tonight — the Padres (76-68) hosting Washington, the Diamondbacks on the road in the late window at Kansas City.
The math tightens against San Diego in a specific way. Washington's Riley Cornelio has been a full run and a half better away from Nationals Park than in it — 4.35 ERA on the road, 7.30 at home — and tonight's start lands him on the good half of that split, at Petco Park. On the other side, Casey Mize was San Diego's marquee August 3 trade-deadline addition from Detroit, a 2.70 ERA arm at the time of the deal; across his first six starts in a Padres uniform, he's posted a 6.67 ERA. San Diego needs the pitcher it traded for, in a game where losing ground costs exactly what it sounds like it costs.
Arizona doesn't have to do anything unusual to hold its half-game cushion tonight — just win its own game against Kansas City. San Diego has to beat the better version of a Nationals starter, with the pitcher it just traded for still looking for his first good month in the uniform.