Padres To Activate Joe Musgrove

12:20 pm: Catcher Rodolfo Duran was shifted to the 60-day IL, per his MLB.com transactions tracker. That clears a 40-man spot for Musgrove. Duran went on the minor league IL in mid-September. His injury has yet to be reported.

11:46 am: Right-hander Joe Musgrove has made the Padres’ postseason roster for the Wild Card round, per a team announcement. Musgrove will need to be activated from the 60-day IL, which will come with a 40-man roster adjustment. San Diego has not revealed the official move yet.

Musgrove will be making his return to a major league mound for the first time in almost exactly two years. His last appearance also came in the Wild Card round. He started against the Braves in a series-clinching game back in 2024. Musgrove dealt with an elbow injury after that outing that ultimately led to Tommy John surgery.

After missing all of the 2025 season, Musgrove has had multiple setbacks in his recovery this year. As recently as early September, he was dealing with arm fatigue that cast doubt on whether he’d be able to return at all this year. Musgrove’s last rehab appearance came on August 27. He fired five innings of one-run ball with Triple-A El Paso, but didn’t recover well from the outing.

Musgrove operated as a starter in each of his four rehab appearances. He’ll likely shift to a bullpen role with the Padres. San Diego will hand the ball to Michael King for Game 1 against the Cubs. Nick Pivetta and Robbie Ray are the top candidates to start Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary). Walker Buehler tossed 73 pitches on Saturday. He’ll be an option later in the series.

When healthy, Musgrove has been a steady contributor in the San Diego rotation. He delivered a low-3.00s ERA across his first three campaigns with the club. Even as he battled elbow issues in 2024, Musgrove posted a 3.88 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning. While his recovery didn’t go smoothly, the Padres had to be encouraged by Musgrove’s velocity. He sat 94.4 mph with the four-seamer in three Triple-A appearances. That’s up more than a tick from 2024.