Nick Pivetta came back after five months away and immediately gave the Padres something they did not have before: another starter throwing like a playoff option. In his first major-league start since the injury layoff, he held the Nationals to two hits and no runs over five innings.
That kind of return matters now because San Diego is trying to settle its postseason rotation, and Pivetta’s name is suddenly back in the conversation. Michael King remains the unquestioned ace and is locked in, but the rest of the picture had been cloudy enough that Robbie Ray and Casey Mize were being treated as likely playoff starters even though both had struggled badly with the Padres.
Pivetta had already given the club an early reason to trust him. He opened 2026 as the Padres’ Opening Day starter and was dominant against the Giants on April 1 before a strained right flexor in his right elbow ended that run after four starts. Multiple setbacks kept him out until September, turning what looked like a short interruption into a five-month absence from major-league action.
His return changes the math because playoff rotations are built on confidence as much as on raw talent. King’s 3.03 ERA and 175 innings pitched set the standard, and Walker Buehler’s 3.26 ERA in the second half gives the Padres another experienced arm to consider. But Ray’s 6.07 FIP and -0.3 fWAR, along with Mize’s 6.34 ERA and -0.2 fWAR, left the club with little depth to justify pushing them out before Pivetta came back. Now there is at least one starter who has answered with five shutout innings instead of a question mark.
The Padres still have to decide whether one strong start is enough to shift a plan that had already been leaning toward Ray and Mize. What Pivetta did in September does not settle the rotation, but it gives San Diego a reason to pause before locking in the final postseason order.
