Playing Spolier: San Diego Padres a Thorn in The Side Of Playoff Teams

Though the San Diego Padres are well out of the playoff race, this team has continued to play with heart and play with the mindset of "we can decide who makes the playoffs." With just under a month to go in major league baseball's regular season, the San Diego Padres could play every game with very little sense of urgency. After all, they've been out of the playoff hunt for the better part of three months. Instead, the Padres have played better in the past two months than they have the rest of the 2009 season and they've taken the role of "spoiler." You've seen the Padres take two of three from the Atlanta Braves who are currently fighting to get back into the National League wild card race, currently five games back of the leading Colorado Rockies. You also saw them, just recently, take two of three from the Florida Marlins who are just four games back of the Rockies in the wild card race. Then, this past Friday night, the Padres shut out th...