Sunday, September 28, felt like a split-screen parable about modern roster building. In Phoenix, the San Diego Padres punctuated their regular season with a 12–4 thumping of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a final-day statement from a club that has learned to win with more than just star wattage. Three time zones away, the Mets wrapped a slow-burn second-half collapse with a shutout loss to the Marlins — an ending that underlined how fragile a hot start can be when the scaffolding behind a superstar isn’t sturdy enough to hold through September.
This is where San Diego and New York intersect.