Tarik Skubal, Cole Ragans, Michael King Steal the Show and MLB Wild Card Takeaways | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

This profit was brought to you by the Juan Soto trade

Line Score by Michael King: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K

Shortly after it went down, Michael King expressed a hot opinion about who could really win the Juan Soto trade between the Padres and New York Yankees.

“I continue to praise [Padres general manager] “AJ Preller and I can confidently say that I feel like the Padres won the trade,” said the right-hander, who went to San Diego as part of the deal.

After posting a 2.95 ERA over 173.2 innings during the regular season, Tuesday was just the latest instance of King getting the win. Notably, he made only the second start with at least 12 strikeouts, no walks and no runs in playoff history.

King’s battery mate Kyle Higashioka was also involved in the Soto deal. He contributed two of the Padres’ four runs, with a sac fly in the second and a solo home run in the eighth.

Of course, this isn’t evidence that the Padres have finally won the Soto trade. But you have to at least admit that without them they wouldn’t be on their way to winning this series.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is on one of his heaters

Although King gradually pushed everyone else off the stage as he settled into a rhythm Tuesday, there was a moment when Tatis had it all to himself.

Namely, the moment he gave the Padres the lead in the first inning with a 415-foot, two-run home run.

This is Tatis at his best, and he’s actually been at his best for some time now. Shortly after coming off a lengthy stint on the injured list on September 2, he embarked on a season-ending run in which he hit seven home runs in 16 games.

In value terms alone, Tatis was only San Diego’s fourth-best hitter in the regular season. But the two-time All-Star may be the best of them all when he’s hot, and he certainly is right now.