San Diego Padres Lose Joe Musgrove With Tommy John Elbow Surgery

Just as the San Diego baseball world was celebrating the Padres’ sweep of the best-of-three Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, sobering news suddenly silenced the euphoria.

Star right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove, a San Diego native who pitched the team’s only no-hitter on April 9, 2021, will miss all of next season and possibly more after hurting his right elbow during the second game.

Musgrove, who had elbow inflammation issues in May and an elbow bone spur in June, had finished the season well, posting a 2.15 earned run average over his final nine starts.

Musgrove, Dylan Cease, and Yu Darvish had been scheduled to start three of the Division Series games against the Dodgers, with Michael King also a probable starter for San Diego after his victory on the opener against Atlanta.

That best-of-five starts Saturday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The 6-5, 230-pound Musgrove made only 19 starts during the 2024 campaign, finishing with a 6-5 record and 3.88 earned run average but pitching less than 100 innings – about half his expected workload.

He is 66-62 over nine years but has won in double digits four times.

Musgrove, soon to turn 32, is earning $20 million this season as part of a five-year extension the Padres gave him in 2021 after acquiring his contract from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-team trade.

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He had actually pitched well in his Wild-Card outing, throwing 44 pitches in 3 2/3 innings while allowing one earned run with four strikeouts and no walks. But his velocity dropped dramatically in the top of the fourth, convincing manager Mike Shildt to remove him from the game. An MRI later revealed the elbow injury.

Musgrove missed two months earlier in the season with elbow trouble.

The only National League team that has never won a World Series, San Diego has reached but lost the Fall Classic twice, in 1984 and 1989.

Along with the Milwaukee Brewers, who began life as the Seattle Pilots, they are the oldest team that has not won a world championship.

The Padres have had 18 winning seasons, including 2024.

Despite a strong stretch drive, their final record of 93-69 left them five games behind the front-running Dodgers in the National League West.

Now they meet again in a best-of-five that determines who advances to the NL Championship Series and perhaps the World Series, both best-of-seven events.

San Diego reduced payroll significantly this season but still stands at $169 million, squarely in the middle of the 30-team pack at No. 15. Musgrove’s money is guaranteed even if he can’t pitch.