It's over

The San Diego Padres 2022 postseason run ended with a thud in Philadelphia, and the Phillies are on their way to the World Series.

The 2022 San Diego Padres season, and postseason run, has come to a close. They made it three wins away from a National League pennant and a trip to the World Series.

Considering everything they went through this season, it was impressive how far they made it. Had they not run into a buzzsaw, and that’s exactly what Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies were in the NLCS, maybe they stood a chance of coming home with some hardware.

My very, very brief thoughts on the series is that Bryce Harper is a future Hall of Famer and the Phillies’ bats have gotten hot at exactly the right moment. I’ve been waiting for a time when Juan Soto and Manny Machado were hot like that, at the same time, since the Padres acquired Soto and it never really happened for them the way it did for Harper and Schwarber and Hoskins. Maybe next year when Fernando Tatis Jr. is added to the mix.

I don’t think Bob Melvin had his best series in the NLCS, and I specifically don’t like the call to start Mike Clevinger in game 4 (just for reference, I stated this position before he made that call and before that game was played), but I also don’t think he gave the game away or got in the way of his players. Grisham and Nola got hot and carried the team in the first couple of rounds, and they both got ice cold in the NLCS. It happens.

You can hear my immediate Game 5 post-game thoughts in podcast form right here.

A personal note

This part is not about the San Diego Padres, it’s about me. Feel free to skip it if you want.

I started this Substack after being laid off two years ago. At the time, it was a fun avenue to get me back into blogging about sports. I loved it. It scratched an itch that I hadn’t scratched in a long time.

Over the last two years, I’ve been genuinely touched by every person who came up to me (or sent me a message) and told me that they read it every morning and love it.

That being said, I’m going to take a break from it that is either going to be temporary or permanent. Only time will tell. If I come back, to write about the Padres offseason or something else, this will be a Substack for free subscribers only.

Maybe it’s the new puppy adding another dimension of complication to my life, but it has become very difficult to find time to write this blog each day (you’ve probably noticed they don’t come out as early as they used to) and I am no longer proud of the work that I am putting out because I don’t have the time to dedicate to it that I would need to put out something that is enriching, fulfilling, and engaging. I’ve been lazy-blogging most of the last couple of months and I’m as sick of it as you are.

The number of subscribers, both free and paid, also hasn’t grown as fast as I would like. I ignored advice from friends with successful newsletters and created the paid tier too soon, but I also couldn’t keep dedicating time to it without financial incentive to do so. I’ll call it an honest mistake.

At this point, consider these last couple of years as something of a portfolio or application. I would absolutely love to write about the San Diego Padres full time if someone ever wanted to hire me to do so. I would love to write about them in an environment where I had time to do research and cultivate relationships and put out something that I was really proud of. I would love to make that work accessible to all for free, with my time paid for by my employer. But that’s probably dreaming too big.

After I hit “Publish” on this post, I’ll cancel everyone’s subscription and go back to my life. I’ll enjoy the time with my family in the mornings instead of staring at a laptop screen through bleary eyes. Thank you for reading. I hope I have the chance to write for you again in the future.

Cut me loose, I wish you well
No oath, no spell
No prayer and no hell but the one we made
Let's cast off, turn tail