The San Diego Padres are conducting an exercise in "pitching chaos," and it's something of a last ditch effort. It's the ultimate version of desperation, perhaps, but it's also all they have.
Their most recent predecessors in this are the Detroit Tigers, who did it back to 2024, and they used an two-man rotation along with an ****** ortment of pitching flotsam and jetsam to make the postseason.
"I think they showed it's possible to do," said manager Craig Stammen, who actually opened a handful of games for the Padres earlier this decade, in a piece written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic. "Will we try to replicate that? Maybe some version of that, on some nights."
The Padres' pair of starters is Michael King and Walker Buehler, and Buehler has had more than his share of shaky outings. Bullpen coach Ben Fritz basically pre-scripts most of the games together with pitching coach Ruben Niebla, and they're hunting matchups while trying to limit exposure.
"Looking at personnel, looking at who you have and how we maximize our chances, we'd be foolish to not try something different," Fritz said.

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