NL WILD CARD SERIES: CUBS VS PADRES

September 30, 2026

Jackson Merrill

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Seeing what Fernando and Manny did last night early to set the tone in Game 1, can you speak to those two guys in particular, how crucial they are for this offense as a whole?

JACKSON MERRILL: They're our leaders. We follow them as an offense, as a whole. To see those guys go in the first inning gave us a little boost, and hopefully it will repeat today.

Q. Offensively for you on a personal level, when you look at your season in totality, how do you describe sort of what clicked at around the midway point?

JACKSON MERRILL: I just think we all clicked at the same time, and it's really contagious as a team. When we roll off one another, it helps us as a team, as a pitching staff too. We see those guys clicking, and it helps us click too. The whole team is just moving together right now.

Q. We've seen you compete with Nick, clubhouse ping pong, that sort of thing. Can you speak to what type of competitor he is, just the desire to compete, and how that is an asset in a situation like this?

JACKSON MERRILL: I don't know how ping pong compares to baseball, but his competitiveness is the same always. He's out there and trying to do his best, but he's having fun while he does it. You can see it on his face too. He loves this more than anything. We appreciate him coming back and just pushing through everything he's been through this year.

Q. You've adapted really quickly in three seasons of Major League Baseball. What have you learned about the playoffs now in your three postseason experiences?

JACKSON MERRILL: It's some of the most fun you can have on a baseball field. I think the games are just way more intensity. You try to treat them as normal, but you'd be lying if you said that it was a normal game.

Q. What would you say to Ethan Salas, who's about to experience it as a young player for the first time tonight?

JACKSON MERRILL: Have fun. Just enjoy it. You're at the center of it all back there. We trust him, and he's going to do everything he can to help us win a ballgame.

Q. Right off that point, Jackson, what makes Ethan Salas really be able to be the youngest catcher to ever catch in the postseason?

JACKSON MERRILL: He's got enormous amounts of confidence, which is what I love to see out of young kids that are here to help. He trusts himself. We trust him. I think that just bounces back off each other. I think, if we show we love him and trust him to do what he's capable of doing, he's going to go out there and perform to the best of his abilities.

Q. We talked multiple times this season. You said you're having a blast playing with your best friends. How close is this group?

JACKSON MERRILL: The past couple of years, I've gotten close to every team I've been on, this team included. Everybody understands each other. We understand where we're at, what we need to do, and we understand there's one job we need to accomplish.

Q. All three years that you've been a Padre, you've been in the postseason. You don't know a season without it. Have you ever heard from veterans or talked to any of them about how long it might have taken them to reach a postseason and reflect on maybe where you've been at in your career so far?

JACKSON MERRILL: No, no one really talks about it. I think everybody just doesn't really think about past postseasons at this point. I think everybody's focused on the game today and the games coming up. It doesn't really come up in conversation.

Q. Why do you think you've been able to keep your composure like you have in the postseason? You've had really good postseason numbers.

JACKSON MERRILL: I think I just love playing in front of a lot of people. It's really fun. I'm very fortunate to play here all year and see all the fans every day, including Monday nights. Everybody's out here. We love the support from them, and it makes it more fun to play on that field.

Q. You grew up a fan of Xander Bogaerts. You've got a unique perspective of his career. What have you learned about the highs and lows of a baseball season through a guy like that, being in the clubhouse with him?

JACKSON MERRILL: You really respect people that go through their day-to-day, the same person every day. They come in, they do what they do, they do their work, and they're professional about it. No matter how the season is going, team's winning or losing, they're going to be the same person every day and go out there and perform to the best of their ability.

I'd say that's a supreme example of a guy that's a super professional, and he does everything he can to win every day.

Q. PCA is a fan of yours. I wonder what you thought of him going up for that ball in center field with Tatis last night?

JACKSON MERRILL: Man, honestly, I thought he caught it for a sec. Respectfully, I'm glad he didn't. It's been super fun to watch what he's done all season long. He's one of the most exciting players in the game. He's going to stay that way for a long time. It's going to be really fun to watch.

Q. Injuries were a big part of what derailed this team in the first half. What can you speak to the guys who really stepped up, whether it was Rengifo and what you guys were getting from Dustin Harris and Samad Taylor out there on the field?

JACKSON MERRILL: Those guys, I think we all said, they kind of saved our year a little bit. They came in and filled holes we needed, and they plugged in every single day. I think Dustin is the two-out RBI King. Shout out to him and what he's done to help us get here and play at home in this Wild Card series.

Samad coming up halfway through the year and just fitting right in, bunting, stealing bases, doing anything he can. Done an awesome job.

Rengifo especially too. He came in, and he's been the love of the clubhouse.

Q. You saw a lot of loud games here at Petco Park. How can you describe what last night was like?

JACKSON MERRILL: I think first-pitch strike of the game set the tone for how loud it was going to be. I think fans were as loud as they were for the first-pitch strike as they were for Tatis' homer. The crowd was just electric.

Q. PCA really spoke highly of you yesterday. I know you guys are around the same age and everything else. Earlier this season he had a take about Babe Ruth. I'm curious if you heard about that.

JACKSON MERRILL: I didn't hear about it.

Q. He didn't know if Babe Ruth was actually real?

JACKSON MERRILL: He thinks he's fake?

Q. Do you think Babe Ruth is real?

JACKSON MERRILL: I'll ride with my guy. You never know. Actually, I was looking up earlier this week, I was curious to see what the highest WARs were in the season, and I think Babe Ruth had won in 1928, it was like a 14 WAR. I was like there's no way right now. I don't know if I can agree with that take, respectfully, PC.

Q. Babe Ruth never had to face a slider or a left-handed reliever.

JACKSON MERRILL: Hell no.

Q. You say -- talk about Ethan Salas; these young kids, and you're 23. Do you ever feel your age, or do you feel like you're a veteran guy in this game, in this clubhouse already?

JACKSON MERRILL: A veteran guy in the game, I wouldn't say I've reached that kind of status yet. I'm still learning, and you never stop learning in this game. But at the same time in the clubhouse, I do feel like I'm a bigger part of it.

As a family piece to come in and just welcome everybody, I think that's what we all do as leaders in there, just make sure everybody's comfortable and ready to play a baseball game and win that day. So as far as being with the Padres, yeah, this is my home. I don't know anything else besides the Padres. It just makes me excited to come to the field every day.

Q. You've been a part of some pretty good teams here in three years. I'm just curious if this year, when you consider the way you guys are playing right now, just the environment around the team and the stadium, if it feels different in any way?

JACKSON MERRILL: I would say so. I would say that every season is different with the team you have. Obviously you have guys that come back, but you have new guys too. I think this year with the injuries we dealt with and kind of working around different pieces and tough parts of the season, I think this year has been more of a grind for us.

I think in other years we've kind of sat high up there in the Wild Card all year. This year we knew what we had to do. It was cool to see everybody come together and push forward and just keep winning. Even after we got a spot in the playoffs, just keep winning so we could be here playing right now.

Q. Inevitably this time of year there's folks that maybe haven't been paying attention to the Padres and are surprised by the environment at Petco Park. What would you say to people who are watching their own team in a different part of the country and don't know what it's like to witness baseball at Petco Park year round, but especially this time of year?

JACKSON MERRILL: Honestly it's tough to even describe to past Padres fans what it's like. Just like the past few years when we've made it, '22 and forward, it's been absolutely incredible to hear how loud the stadium has been, and I don't think it's ever been like that before. It's a part of us, San Diego is a part of us. Everybody that comes to our games is a part of us, and we just want to do our best to make them loud and make them cheer for us.