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Padres rally with 5-run 7th to eliminate Dodgers, advance to NLCS (0:59)

The Padres took the lead over the Dodgers in the 7th and went on to win the series. There is a time and a place.

2:52 PM AST

The players formed a circle in the middle of the Padres' locker room and sprayed champagne in unison. The owner stood off to the side so he wouldn't be in the way of the madness. The goal of the Padres taking over both their city and their division was the goal of the team that was purchased ten years ago.

The culmination of that vision was Saturday night, when the Dodgers were eliminated in the National League Division Series.

The only thing they had to do was take risks.

Seidler pointed to the baseball player drenched in booze.

Seidler said that he was the biggest chip. All the players want to play there.

The perception of the Padres was forever changed after they signed Machado to a $300 million contract. The Padres' offense was stagnant through most of the summer, but it was Machado who kept them afloat. Their two boldest trade additions lifted them once they got to the playoffs.

The biggest acquisition in baseball history produced the game-tying hit and later came around to score in the seven-run seventh that produced an amazing comeback.

The Padres are going to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 1998 after Josh Hader closed it out in the ninth.

A.J. Preller is the president of baseball operations. We made the trades because of that. They are the best at what they do. You need the best players in the game if you're going to beat that team.

Preller, widely regarded as the most hyper- aggressive executive in the sport, is the embodiment of the boldness of these Padres. Preller went all in with expensive veterans when he first joined the Padres. He used the assets he sold off to rebuild the farm system after it failed.

The beginning of the rotation was made up of names such as Yu Darvish, Sean Manaea, and Mike Clevinger. It was expected that the team would compete with the Dodgers in 2021. They missed the playoffs because of a second-half collapse, but it paved the way for the hiring of one of the most respected managers in the sport. The moves that pushed the Padres over the top were the result of a subpar start to the year.

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The collapse last year was centered on activity around the trade deadline, when Preller spoke to the Washington Nationals about the possibility of combining Max and Trea Turner in a package, then watched that package go to the Dodgers. The Padres did not do anything else. Preller didn't want to miss out again. On July 31, he sent his closer, Taylor Rogers, and three others to the Milwaukee Brewers for Hader, then shipped all of his best young players to the Nationals for Soto and the power hitter Josh Bell.

It took two months for that to happen.

After arriving in San Diego, Hader struggled so badly that he was removed as the closer, only to find his form late in the season. He has shown his usual dominance in October. After missing out on his typical power for most of August and September, Soto is now a major threat again.

It's not a matter of if Juan will get going, it's a matter of when. He had some big hits in this series. He is that person.

In 52 regular-season games with the Padres, the young outfielder had a.388 on-base percentage and.390 batting average. He had four hits in the Padres' wild-card series against the Mets. He produced eight balls that exceeded 100 mph, which doesn't include his 95 mph single on Saturday.

"It was a really important moment, a tight moment, and I just wanted to come through for this team, that's what I wanted to say," he said. I want to give them everything I have and see how far we can go.

The Mets did not stay for long in October, so they focus on the off-season.

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The outlook of the Padres' lineup changes as much as Hader's ninth-inning dominance changes the dynamics of the Padres' relief corps.

In a nine-inning stretch from July 13 to August 28, Hader gave up 22 runs. The Padres demoted Hader towards the end of the stretch. He got right again. Near the end of his time with the Brewers, he picked up some bad mechanical habits. As the Padres adjusted their usage of him and figured out his new best practices, he allowed just one unearned run and five base runners over his last 10 appearances. In the playoffs, he's pitched 4 1/3 shut outs

Hader said that this is the worst he's ever had. It's not possible to just roll over and say, 'Oh well, this is the way it is.' It's not possible to do that. We play this game so hard that we can't just give up. If you can go through that, you can go through anything. You don't have to stop trusting what you do.

Seidler referred to the Dodgers as the dragon up the freeway that they're trying to slay. His franchise was able to slay the dragon thanks to the stars who came in and the fans who supported them.

It is unofficially named "Dodger Stadium South" due to the large number of Dodgers fans at the park. It wasn't the same on Friday and Saturday. In order to maximize the number of Padres fans in attendance, the team restricted the primary ticket market to fans in the San Diego area. There were bright yellow towels decorated in the ballpark. The rain came down hard in the last part of the game.

Seidler was asked if he could have imagined that kind of energy in the city.

He denied. This, what happened yesterday and today, was amazing.

It's been half an hour since we won and the fans are still in the building. They're wet and cold but they love this group of players and the fans.