PHOENIX -- The Padres finished their regular season on Sunday afternoon, then boarded a flight home to San Diego, where they¡¯ll host a best-of-three National League Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday night. They still do not know who they¡¯ll be playing.

And maybe that¡¯s not the worst thing?

San Diego¡¯s 11-2 loss to the Diamondbacks -- paired with results elsewhere -- means the Braves and Mets will play a doubleheader Monday to determine the final two spots in the NL playoff picture.

• Doubleheader to decide final two NL Wild Card spots

The Padres have secured the league¡¯s top Wild Card spot. Their opponent will be determined by the doubleheader. Though it¡¯s possible the Diamondbacks can still reach the postseason, they¡¯re no longer a candidate to play the Padres in the first round, leaving these two scenarios in play for San Diego:

• If the Mets sweep the doubleheader, the Padres will play the Mets.
• Any other outcome, the Padres will play the Braves.

¡°I¡¯m excited as hell to watch this doubleheader tomorrow,¡± said Jackson Merrill, who put the finishing touches on his National League Rookie of the Year case on Sunday. ¡°I know we lost today, and my main goal is winning everyday. Obviously, I wish we would¡¯ve won.

¡°But now, having all of them tied and tomorrow is very important to everybody, I think that¡¯s really good. I think it¡¯s good for baseball. I think it¡¯s good for us.¡±

He¡¯s not wrong on either front. Whichever team the Padres play in the Wild Card Series will almost certainly have expended some of its top arms to clinch a place in the postseason. The status of Braves ace Chris Sale is particularly intriguing. In a short series, the Padres would love to avoid facing the NL Cy Young favorite.

Then again, that¡¯s not exactly where their focus is.

¡°We just need to do us,¡± said left fielder Jurickson Profar. ¡°Whoever we're playing, we're playing.¡±

With the loss Sunday, the Padres completed the 2024 regular season with a record of 93-69, the second-best mark in franchise history, trailing only the 1998 team, which won 98 games. En route to those 93 wins, San Diego relied on the entirety of its 40-man roster.

Manny Machado wasn¡¯t truly healthy until mid-June. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts both missed a significant chunk of the season with injuries. Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish were absent from the rotation for several months.

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So it was fitting, then, that the Padres essentially spent their weekend paying homage to the depth pieces that helped get them across the finish line. They rested a number of their regulars, handing starts to all of their bench players.

Randy V¨¢squez and Matt Waldron -- once key cogs in the San Diego rotation -- each rejoined the team this weekend. V¨¢squez pitched six innings of one-hit ball on Saturday. A day later, he was replaced by Waldron, who covered four innings in relief.

¡°Matty¡¯s a big reason why we¡¯re moving forward,¡± Padres manager Mike Shildt said. ¡°He took innings, took the ball, and pitched very successfully and fortified our rotation when the rotation was in flux, with Joe and Yu. He did a tremendous job. It was fitting that he was able to come in and pitch today.¡±

Those innings served the Padres well in two capacities. They were able to rest the bullpen, which they¡¯d ridden hard for most of September. And they¡¯ll be able to set their Wild Card Series rotation however they choose.

¡°The mission, to get ready for Tuesday, was accomplished,¡± Shildt said. ¡°In making sure guys stayed sharp enough to get their at-bats, but keeping guys off their feet, being able to rest our bullpen that carried the mail quite a bit -- we¡¯re in a good spot to get ready for Tuesday.¡±