Ear to ear

The Padres are advancing in the playoffs, thanks to Joe Musgrove's ears ... er, arm.

The Padres are advancing in the playoffs, thanks to Joe Musgrove's ears ... er, arm.

I have no idea what was on the pitcher's ears during Sunday's 6-0 Game 3 wild card win against the Mets to advance to the next round of the playoffs. But ears aren't typically shiny like his were.

Andrew McCutchen @TheCUTCH22

Here we go. I guarantee Musgrove has Red Hot on his ears. Pitchers use it as mechanism to stay locked in during games. It burns like crazy and IDK why some guys thinks it helps them but in no way is it “sticky.” Buck is smart tho. Could be trying to just throw him off.

The umpires, at Mets manager Buck Showalter's urging, got intimate with Musgrove, rubbing his ears during the sixth inning to check for foreign substances.

It was a lot of contact for a first date.

Tim and Friends @timandfriends

The umps just checked Joe Musgrove's... ears for a foreign substance? 🤔

Baseball is all about getting away with whatever you can. Phantom tags. Pitch framing. Hidden ball tricks. Gunk. Scuffing the ball. Nail files. Corked bats. Stealing signs. Performance-enhancing drugs.

Musgrove was masterful, holding the Mets to one hit in seven innings pitched, while the Padres hitters were aggressive, stringing together hits to build and pad an early lead.

Did Musgrove's shiny ears factor into the outcome? Who knows. It'll be something for people to talk about in the coming days.

Either way, the Padres are advancing (to face the Dodgers) while the Mets are entering a disappointing early offseason. Baseball is cruel in that way. So many wins — the Mets and Atlanta both had identical 101-61 records, but since Atlanta held the tiebreaker, the Mets were relegated to the first Wild Card spot.

Typically, that spot would have meant a series with the top seed, but with the extra Wild Card Series round this year, 89-win San Diego is instead set to face the Dodgers.

Which is music to the Padres' ears.