Padres Press Conference with A.J. Preller, Mike Shildt, Joe Musgrove, Fernando Tatis Jr.

‪@JeffSkverskyYouTube‬

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Braves and Padres tonight
open their best-of-three National League Wild Card
Series with Game 1 here in San Diego...The Padres
took four of the seven meetings between the clubs in
the regular season.
• Atlanta has gone 3-4 against San Diego in each
of the last three seasons, snapping a streak of five
consecutive years in which the club won the season
set from 2016-2021...The Braves won three of the
final four meetings between the teams this year.
• The Braves won two-of-three here at Petco
Park this season, and have not lost a series in this
ballpark since 2018...Atlanta is 12-4 in its last 16
games as the visiting team in San Diego, dating
to the 2019 season...The Braves are 34-33 (.507)
all-time at Petco Park since the stadium opened
in 2004, one of just three visiting NL teams with
a winning record here joining the Phillies (45-20,
.692) and Dodgers (102-78, .567).
• Atlanta and San Diego have met in the postseason
one time previously, playing in the 1998 National
League Championship Series...The Padres won the
series, 4-2, with the Braves’ only two wins coming
here in San Diego...The Padres were then swept
by the Yankees in the 1998 World Series.
• RH Michael King is set to make the first start
and second appearance of his postseason career,
after pitching 2.0 scoreless innings in relief during
the 2020 ALDS while with the Yankees...The
6-foot-3, 210-pound native of Rochester, NY,
is also slated to make the first start of his career
against Atlanta...The right-hander has faced the
Braves once previously, tossing 3.2 scoreless innings
out of the bullpen on August 16 of last season for
New York...King completed his first full season as
a starter this year, going 13-9 with a 2.95 ERA
across 31 total appearances...He allowed no more
than two earned runs in 18 of his final 20 starts
on the season.
AJ SMITH-SHAWVER: Starts Game 1 for Atlanta
tonight in the first start of his postseason career...The
6-foot-3, 205-pound native of Fort Worth, TX, made
his playoff debut in the NLDS last season for Atlanta,
pitching 2.2 innings of relief in Game 3 and allowing
three runs.
• The right-hander entered the 2024 season ranked
by MLB.com as Atlanta’s No. 1 overall prospect,
and made one start with the Braves this season...He
pitched 4.1 scoreless innings on May 23 at Wrigley
Field in his only appearance in the majors...In 20
starts with Triple-A Gwinnett on the year, he went
3-7 with a 4.86 ERA
• Smith-Shawver starts today at 21 years, 316 days
old, and is the youngest pitcher in Braves franchise
history to start Game 1 of a postseason series...Just
one Atlanta pitcher has started any playoff game
at a younger age...Steve Avery made four starts
in the 1991 playoffs, including two in the World
Series, between 21 years, 179 days and 21 years,
195 days old.
THE POSTSEASON: This series marks the Braves’
45th postseason matchup in franchise history...Atlanta last
played in the postseason last year, losing to Philadelphia
in the NLDS...The Braves are 102-107 (.488) all-time
in the postseason, despite outscoring the opposition
825-812 (+13).
• This year marks Atlanta’s first appearance in a Wild
Card Series since Major League Baseball expanded
the postseason for the 2022 season...The Braves
only other such series came in the COVID-altered
postseason in 2020, when 16 teams made the
playoffs...Atlanta swept Cincinnati, 2-0, in the wild
card round that year.
• The Braves have played in 19 division series (8-11),
13 league championship series (6-7), 10 World
Series (4-6), one wild card series (1-0), and one wild
card game (0-1).
• Since MLB went to Divisional play in 1969, the
Braves have qualified for the postseason in 26 of the
55 seasons...That total is the most in the National
League and second to only the Yankees in all of
baseball.

#PressConference #Interview #NFL #NBA #video #viral #viralvideo #game #sports #gameplay #reporter #questions #Philadelphia #Philly #Eagles #Sixers #76ers #Phillies #flyers #NHL #MLB #YouTube #YouTubeShort #YouTubeShorts #tiktok #facebook #host #JeffSkversky