LOS ANGELES — Xander Bogaerts stood in a quiet, empty clubhouse and tried to express a collective emotion. After an overwhelming conclusion, everyone had their own way of expressing their regrets. But only one teammate had ever reached the pinnacle of the sport. No one else had ever won multiple World Series.

For a long time, it seemed like the 2024 San Diego Padres had what it took to change all that. Then came an excruciating Friday evening. Suddenly it was the end.

“As far as the roster goes, man, we had everything,” Bogaerts said. “I mean, similar to the Red Sox in 2018. We were just so good. I had a strong sense of the similarities between this team and that team. But we didn’t get the job done.”

This one will hurt for a long time, much longer than the last 24 innings. These flew by without a single Padres run. The final nine frames featured one of the game’s most resilient offenses, with a two-out Bogaerts walk in the second and back-to-back one-out singles in the third… and nothing else. The Los Angeles Dodgers will continue play after a 0-2 loss in the playoff of the National League Division Series. The Padres will spend at least the next few months thinking about what could have been.

Mainly due to who was both there and not there.

As Bogaerts stood in relative silence, he reflected on the absence of Ha-Seong Kim and Joe Musgrove, two beloved teammates who were away after undergoing surgery. Then Bogaerts referred to someone else. He still wore his team-issued jersey with the “PS” patch over his heart.

“Of course even Peter (Seidler),” Bogaerts said of the late Padres owner. “He brought me here and we have something special. And that was the time when it felt like everything that had happened and he was up there looking down on us and guiding us – that it was going to be a special year. But it didn’t happen.

“In sport you have to win and lose. That’s the only bad thing I would say about it.”

Jake Cronenworth struck out to end the eighth as part of a 24-inning scoreless streak for the Padres. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

For a long time, the 2024 Padres embodied the best part of the sport. The day after the All-Star break, they were a .500 team. Over the next three weeks they played nearly .900 baseball. They finished the regular season with 93 wins, the second-most in franchise history. They started October and were a popular choice to break through.

The stars felt aligned because of what they had on the field. And also because of what they got out of it.

“I don’t think I’ve been part of such a strong team,” Manny Machado said.

“This might be the most fun I’ve ever had on a baseball field, playing with these guys,” Kyle Higashioka said.

“I think I discovered a deeper love for baseball,” said Jackson Merrill, the Padres’ youngest player. “I think I really didn’t realize how electric it could be and how much of a family you could build over an entire summer.”

“Maybe the closest of any team I’ve ever been involved with,” said Yu Darvish, San Diego’s oldest player.

Nowhere did the Padres show this connection more often than on offense. They led the majors in hits and batting average. They avoided focusing on home runs, but still achieved a Petco Park record. They recovered from one deficit after another. Whenever they did a double strike, they would look toward their shelter and make a heart shape with their arms.

On Tuesday, they enjoyed the love of their teammates and an adoring home crowd en route to a six-run inning capped by a majestic home run from Fernando Tatis Jr.

Three days later, Darvish climbed the mound at Dodger Stadium and touched the “PS” patch on his jersey. He went on to throw nearly good innings, limiting damage to two solo home runs. No one knew yet that those six runs on Tuesday would be the Padres’ last runs of 2024.

“It’s obviously very difficult how well we were together as a team,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “It really hurts.”

Disappointment manifests itself in many different ways. Late Friday, several San Diego players credited a slew of Dodgers for shutting down one of the sport’s most resilient offenses in nearly three straight games. The Padres’ 24-inning scoreless streak didn’t just end their season. It was also her longest such streak of the season.

“Man, they executed,” Tatis said. “Their pitchers did the job. Of course we fought hard, but at the end of the day it didn’t go the way we wanted.”

There were the two flyouts that Machado hit on the warning rail. There was the highlight of the third when Higashioka and Luis Arraez hit consecutive singles against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a starting pitcher the Padres had overwhelmed twice in the regular season. There was Tatis, who has been the hottest batsman in the world lately, hitting a subsequent double.

There wasn’t much else.

“It was definitely a good opportunity,” Higashioka said. “But I mean, Yamamoto is a good pitcher. We’ve done it with him in the past and were very confident against him, but today he gave his best and took us out. We could not deliver this fatal blow.”

Killer blows can also come in other forms. For example, there was this: The Dodgers came back from a 2-1 series deficit with almost no help from perhaps the most feared hitter in the world. Shohei Ohtani finished the series 4-of-20 with 10 strikeouts. During Friday’s scoreless performance, he went down swinging three times.

It could have been seen as evidence of a Padres team that had what it took to win it all.

“(President of Baseball Operations) AJ (Preller) and his people have put us in an extremely excellent position,” Bogaerts said. “What more could we have asked for, to be honest? We had the best bullpen and best batting average in the game. And the bullpen kind of showed up in this series, but the hitting might not have been as we know it.

“Playoff baseball is a little different, too. But yeah, that was the only part that didn’t show up consistently.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

“We did a lot of unusual things,” Jurickson Profar said. “We don’t want to take credit for their pitching either. We just couldn’t do it.

“Just sad for this team. We had everything we needed by the end. But you know, it’s baseball. Baseball. They played better than us in the last two games. And we’re going home.”

Not everyone was ready to disband. After the final game of their season, much of the Padres lingered at the visitors’ bench railing, watching in silence as the Dodgers celebrated on the field.

Merrill was the last to leave the railing. The star rookie later said he “1,000 percent” plans to be at Petco Park on Saturday. He didn’t yet know what he would do there.

“Maybe just sit at my locker. I have to clean out my locker. And get ready to start developing and getting better,” Merrill said. “I’m 21. There’s so much room to grow and so much room for improvement. I just want to come back and help these guys compete. You know, I felt like I didn’t do my best. I’m sure many of us feel that way.”

It remains to be seen how many others will get a chance to help the Padres in 2025. Hometown hero Musgrove is expected to miss all of next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Kim is expected to reject his part of a joint option. Profar, Higashioka, David Peralta, Donovan Solano and Tanner Scott – all key members of the 2024 team – are expected to join him in free agency the day after the conclusion of the World Series.

The day before will provide more memories of a brutal 24-inning stretch.

“I think ‘stunning’ is appropriate,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

“It hurts a lot,” Arraez said, “because we did a lot of good things.”

That’s what they did. After the upheaval and staff cuts last offseason, they will remember that too.

“I’m proud of these guys, man,” Machado said. “They worked hard all year since spring training to get here and a lot of guys left us out.”

“We have a strong core here, and man, the sky’s the limit,” Tatis said. “I have no doubt we will be knocking on the door every year.”

“We competed with what we had and what we had is really good. What we have is really good. And we have a good foundation for the future,” said Sheldt. “I don’t think this will be an isolated case. I fully expect this group to come back and be ready to compete in the playoffs for two, three, four years in a row. This will be historic in San Diego baseball history.”

Maybe that will happen. But on Friday someone had to lose. The visiting club’s clubhouse opened to reporters nearly 30 minutes after the game. At this point, despite the hugs and handshakes, some players were still sitting motionless at their lockers – as if they had never left the dugout railing.

After a season that felt magical for so long, the Padres can’t help but remember what didn’t happen.

“At the moment I can’t think of any good moments,” said Profar. “We’re just out of the playoffs. I have that memory in my head right now, except we didn’t make it.”

(Top photo by Jackson Merrill: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)