4 Padres Players Who May Have Played Their Final Game With the Team

The San Diego Padres played their final game of the 2026 season on Wednesday night.

The Padres fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1, in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. The Padres' offense went cold when it mattered most, and they dropped Game 4 in front of their home fans to end their season.

San Diego will now turn the page to the 2027 season after a stellar 2026, especially in the second half. Now the focus is on reaching the mountaintop in 2027, but it may be without a handful of this year's players.

Here are four players who may have played their final game as a member of the Padres.

Michael King

King enters the offseason with the option to opt out of the final two years and $58 million remaining on his contract. After posting a stellar 3.21 ERA, 158 strikeouts and a 1.18 WHIP in 2026, he almost certainly will.

The 31-year-old was the Padres' bona fide ace in 2026, and could now enter free agency as one of the best starting pitchers on the market.

San Diego would love to keep him, but King could be looking at a $100 million-plus contract on the open market.

It's unclear if the Padres would have the funds to afford him.

Casey Mize

Mize was one of the team's more disappointing players. After trading for the right-handed pitcher from the Detroit Tigers at the deadline, the team hoped he could stabilize a rotation in desperate need of help. Instead, Mize made only 10 starts for the Padres, posting a horrid 7.36 ERA.

The Padres gave up pitching prospects Kash Mayfield and Jackson Wolf to acquire Mize and Gage Workman, making the outcome even more disappointing.

Before the playoffs began, Mize went on the injured list with an ankle sprain, ending his season — and likely his Padres tenure.

With uncertainty already surrounding next year's rotation, the Padres need to find more reliable options.

Mize, who had a strong first half with the Tigers, will almost certainly be playing in another team's rotation in 2027.

Adrian Morejon

The Padres will certainly do all they can to retain Morejon.

He has been an important part of the Padres bullpen and had another strong 2026 season. He's spent his entire career in San Diego and is coming off his final season under contract, where he earned $3.9 million and avoided arbitration.

San Diego wants to keep him, and Morejon doesn't want to go anywhere; however, he won't come cheap.

Morejon will have a chance to secure a significant raise on the open market. The Padres may decide those dollars are better allocated elsewhere, particularly with major questions surrounding the starting rotation.

Losing Morejon would hurt, but the Padres may have to make a difficult financial decision this winter, and the left-handed reliever may be one of their casualties.

Robbie Ray

Ray is another player whose Padres tenure won't be remembered fondly.

San Diego acquired the left-handed pitcher from the San Francisco Giants at the deadline. He was supposed to help elevate and stabilize the rotation; instead, he went 3-2 with a 5.02 ERA across nine starts for San Diego and walked 27 batters in only 43 innings.

Ray was originally an important deadline acquisition, but his performance in San Diego never matched what the Padres traded him for.

In the postseason, he allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and one strikeout over 3.2 innings.

He is now a free agent, and after struggles following his arrival, there doesn't seem to be much reason for San Diego to bring him back.

Ray was strong for most of the season with the Giants, but the Padres got the worst version of him at the worst possible time.

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