The Padres’ season is over, and it’s a shame with how hot this team was. They were 50-53 in late July, went 41-18 the rest of the way, swept the Cubs, and then ran into a Brewers team that won 103 games. Milwaukee beat them 3-1 in the Division Series. Let’s be honest about it: the Padres lost to the better team.

But here’s what hurts more. Every single game in that series was decided by two runs or fewer. Four games, a combined five runs. This wasn’t a blowout. The Padres could have won this thing if a couple of things went their way.

Start with Game 1. Ninth inning, down 3-2 with a runner on, Ty France hits a ball that looked like it was gone. It hit a cable on the roof and Jackson Chourio caught it for an out. Ground rules are ground rules, I get it. But what if that ball doesn’t hit the roof? Maybe it’s a two-run homer and the Padres lead 4-3. Maybe it’s a foul ball, like Pat Murphy said. We’ll never know. Would they still have won that game? Who knows. That’s the problem.

Then there’s Game 2 and Mason Miller going six outs. They had planned on it before the game, because the eighth inning went so quick for him. And he’s been great, 38 saves and a 1.67 ERA, and he’d done it before. He gets five outs, walks three in the ninth, and Chourio hits the walk-off single. Do you go with him for the sixth out? Of course. Nobody is better. But if he doesn’t walk those guys, the series is tied 1-1 going back to San Diego instead of 0-2. That’s the question that’s going to stick with me.

And Game 4 was more of the same. They loaded the bases in the first and Xander Bogaerts popped out. Manny Machado hit a 406-foot drive in the eighth that Garrett Mitchell caught at the wall. A few feet either way and it’s a different night. Add it all up and that’s a series that came down to inches.

What-ifs can always be asked, and that’s baseball. The Brewers earned it. But this one stings because the Padres were right there. They won 91 games, made it to the postseason for the third straight year, and Ethan Salas and Michael King showed us plenty to be excited about. It just wasn’t enough this time. See you in spring.