Padres could be without top hurler for NLDS

Not all was well in southern California after the San Diego Padres swept the Atlanta Braves out of the Major League Baseball playoffs Wednesday night. 

As the Padres advance to a much-anticipated National League Division Series matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego faces the possibility of facing their hated rival without the services of Joe Musgrove. 

Musgrove, who was held to 19 starts during the regular season due to inflammation and tendonitis related to a bone spur in his right throwing elbow, abruptly left in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game with what was termed “elbow tightness.”

After the final out of the Padres’ Wild-Card series-clinching 5-4 defeat of the Braves, Musgrove told Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“I’m bothered; I’m frustrated. I don’t know what the future looks like for me right now, but I know I’m going to give it every chance I have, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to get back in here at some point.”

A mainstay of San Diego’s rotation since coming to the Padres in a 2021 trade involving the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Musgrove said that the pain he experienced Wednesday was different than the pain that landed him on the injured list twice this season.

While Musgrove did tell the Union-Tribune that an initial test on the Ulnar Collateral Ligament in the troubled elbow came back clean. However, he was due to undergo an MRI on Thursday.

According to Padres radio man Sammy Levitt of 97.3 The Fan, San Diego will go with Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish in Games 1 and 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers.

From there, Michael King, who dominated the Braves in Game 1 of the Wild Card series, likely figures to get the ball for Game 3. 

More MLB: Braves could sign $121 million star to replace Max Fried