CHICAGO — Mason Miller was awake in bed early on the morning of July 31 when he got the phone call he spent the previous night preparing for. He figured it was coming. A day earlier, Miller had been held out of the A’s game against Seattle, despite the fact that he was rested and his team carried a slim lead into the ninth inning.
Sure enough, A’s general manager David Forst was on the other line to confirm what Miller already suspected: He’d been traded. To San Diego. Now, two months later, Miller is on the verge of making his postseason debut in this week’s best-of-three National League Wild Card Series between the Padres and Cubs at Wrigley Field.
So, when did Miller start mentally readying himself for this? When did the excitement of pitching in the postseason begin to set in?
“As soon as I found out about the trade,” Miller said at Monday’s Wild Card Series workout day.
The Padres, of course, gave up a king’s ransom to acquire Miller — and they did so with moments like this one in mind. San Diego dealt Leo De Vries, MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 prospect, along with three other prospects in a blockbuster that shook the baseball world.
By Deadline day, the Padres still hadn’t made any trades to bolster a roster that featured several obvious flaws. So it was no surprise that general manager A.J. Preller would be aggressive on July 31. When is he not?
Ultimately, Preller added the left fielder the Padres needed (Ramón Laureano). He added the DH they needed (Ryan O’Hearn). He added the catcher they needed (Freddy Fermin). But did the Padres need another reliever? They already boasted the sport’s top bullpen — the first bullpen in MLB history to send three relievers to the All-Star Game.
“You’re adding to a strength,” Preller said in his post-Deadline press conference. “We have an opportunity to shorten the game. We want to take that.”
There’s no better time for shortening games than in the postseason, with extra off-days and increased stakes with every pitch. Plus, the season-ending left quad injury suffered by Jason Adam made Miller’s presence even more crucial.
Since his arrival, there’s an argument to be made that Miller has been the best reliever in baseball. Or, maybe there’s no argument at all. Miller has posted a 0.77 ERA, while punching out an absurd 54 percent of the batters he’s faced. In early September, he became the second player in Padres history to record an immaculate inning, throwing nine straight sliders and getting nine straight strikes — the last eight of which were swings and misses — in the eighth inning against the Orioles. And, oh yeah, he throws a 103-mph fastball, too.
But as good as Miller was in August and September, the trade was made with the postseason in mind. The Padres think Miller can own October, too. He’s not their closer. But they think he’s more than that. He’s a weapon they can deploy for multiple innings in the game’s highest-leverage moments prior to the ninth.
“It could be whenever,” Miller said. “It’s just about being prepared. … It’s about matchups. But it’s the playoffs, too. So everybody is going to be asked to do a little bit more, I would imagine.”
Two weeks ago, manager Mike Shildt offered what is likely to be a sneak peak into Miller’s playoff usage. The Padres were facing the Mets in New York in a game with massive stakes in the NL Wild Card race. Clinging to a lead in the seventh, Shildt called for Miller with one out and Juan Soto and Pete Alonso due up.
Miller proceeded to punch out both. An inning later, he retired the side in order. They weren’t the final outs of the game — those belonged to closer Robert Suarez. But they were the most important outs.
“We take pride in the fact that if we get a lead past the fifth, we have an extremely good record,” Miller said. “You just pass the stick to the next guy, and you feel really good about him coming in, too. Really it’s just about doing that — getting the ball to the next guy, until Bob gets us into the clubhouse.”
After that outing in New York, Miller noted, “We’re at the time of the year where you just kind of go until the wheels fall off.” So, yes, he’s open to being used heavily in the playoffs. Sounds like he wants it, actually. And given the importance of each out in a short series, you can bet he’ll be used aggressively this week against the Cubs.
That’s what he envisioned on the morning of July 31, after all.
“It felt like a second Opening Day,” Miller said. “August and September can sometimes feel like a little bit of a drag — the dog days, if you will. But I felt like I had a two-month sprint [in San Diego]. And I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to play in the postseason.”