Sunday, September 6, 2026 — three homers in 15 pitches made the highlight reel. The pitcher on the other side made the bigger point.
The Padres beat the Yankees 4-3 at Petco Park on Sunday, taking two of three in a series Manny Machado called postseason baseball. Most of the attention went to the first inning, when Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Machado opened the game with three straight home runs off Gerrit Cole.
The more consequential performance came from San Diego’s starter. Michael King threw six scoreless innings, allowed four hits, and stretched his scoreless streak to 21⅔ innings. Manager Craig Stammen’s summary was blunt: “That’s what an ace is.”
For the Padres’ front office, that sentence comes with a complication.
The Contract Clause That Matters
Last December, King re-signed with San Diego on a three-year, $75 million deal. The headline number made it look like a long-term commitment. The structure tells a different story: King can opt out after this season and again after 2027.
Player opt-outs reward exactly what King is doing right now. Every scoreless start in September raises his value on the open market and makes it more likely he walks away from the remaining guarantee to seek a longer, richer deal. If he finishes the season pitching like an ace, the opt-out becomes the obvious choice.
In other words, the better King pitches for the Padres, the more likely he is to leave them.
Why the Market Will Be Interested
King turned himself from a swingman into a frontline starter after arriving from the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade, and this season he’s back in that form. A pitcher who can post a 21-inning scoreless streak during a playoff race, against contending lineups, profiles as a top-of-the-rotation option.
The upcoming free agent class has some impressive arms at the top, but depth behind them is a recurring concern. King would slot in as one of the more attractive starters available — younger and cheaper than the true aces, but with recent results that look very similar.
San Diego’s Dilemma
The Padres’ new ownership group, led by José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, inherits a heavy payroll and a roster built to win now. King represents the classic decision for a new owner: pay to keep an established starter, or let him go and redirect the money.
Keeping him likely means renegotiating — extending the deal to remove the opt-out incentive — which would require a bigger commitment than the one San Diego made in December. Letting him walk means replacing one of the few reliable starters on a staff that already leans heavily on him.
The Race in Front of Him
Before any of that, there’s a playoff spot to chase. The Padres are 75-68, half a game behind Arizona for the final National League Wild Card. King’s run of zeros has been the steadiest thing about a team that has been inconsistent all season.
Sunday also showed the rest of the formula: early power from Tatis and Machado, Luis Campusano homering and throwing out his fourth would-be base stealer of the weekend, and Mason Miller closing it out for his 33rd save.
The Other Side
For Cole, it was a forgettable day in a season of rebuilding. He became the only pitcher in MLB history to allow home runs to the first three batters of a game twice, and later gave up a fourth to Campusano. The Yankees, 81-62, fell four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East with 19 games to play.
The Read
Michael King’s September is great news for the Padres’ October chances and complicated news for their winter. Six more scoreless innings on Sunday made San Diego a better playoff team. They also made his opt-out decision a little easier.
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