At the end of a long weekend in Colorado, the Padres sure seem a lot closer to ending their 14-year playoff drought.

By Monday afternoon’s Trade Deadline, the Friars had addressed every one of their obvious weaknesses. They landed a frontline starter, a pair of catchers, a potent lefty bat and some legit relief help. From their big league roster, they needed to sacrifice only a few fringe pieces.

Then they took the field Monday night, and continued boosting their playoff odds in the most straightforward way possible -- by winning. The Padres took three of four from the Rockies, capped with an emphatic 6-0 victory at Coors Field. The win moved the Padres to 22-15 -- the second-best record in the National League, trailing only the Dodgers.

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More important, San Diego moved four games ahead of the Rockies for the second automatic playoff spot in the NL West. In a traditional postseason format, the Padres would’ve been heavy favorites for a Wild Card spot. But with eight teams reaching the playoffs in each league, it might be time to stop wondering “if” and start asking what the Padres might be capable of come October.

“They made so many moves, I think everyone's talking about it,” said Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado. “It's crazy. But they're playing great baseball, and they're going to probably make the playoffs. Credit to that team.”

Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who tripled and scored two runs on Monday, wouldn’t go quite that far. But he was quick to acknowledge that the Padres are playing playoff-caliber baseball.

“It’s just great baseball all the way around,” Tatis said. “I think we’re going to get there if we keep this rhythm and [playing] this way. If everybody’s taking care of their job, we’re going to get there.”

Monday’s moves helped that cause. The Padres added right-hander Mike Clevinger in a nine-player blockbuster with Cleveland. Clevinger -- who won’t join the team until Wednesday in Anaheim -- is their presumed Game 1 starter.

“I live for that game, exactly,” Clevinger said. “That’s why I play. … After getting to experience a World Series my first year in the big leagues, getting to experience a postseason, finally getting a taste of my first postseason start against Houston [in 2018] … It’s like skydiving. It’s an adrenaline rush you’ll chase for the rest of your career if you taste it.”

The Padres haven’t tasted it in 14 years. But in that span, they haven’t had a roster quite like this one. They plan on chasing that adrenaline rush for most of the next decade.

That was the plan laid out by general manager A.J. Preller, who astonishingly swung six trades that involved 26 players in a span of 48 hours.

“They were deals that helped us in the short term,” Preller said. “But more importantly, in each of those cases, they’re deals that we feel like help us for the next month or so and also help us in the next couple years.”

The fruits of Preller’s labor were on display on Monday night. Catcher Austin Nola, first baseman Mitch Moreland and right-hander Trevor Rosenthal all made their Padres debuts.

Rosenthal was probably the standout from that group, working a scoreless ninth inning and striking out Matt Kemp and Ryan McMahon to end the game. But credit Nola, too. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and backstopped a team shutout.

It’s been quite the 48 hours for Nola and Jason Castro, the Padres’ other newly acquired backstop. They were playing against each other on Sunday afternoon when the Padres agreed to the two trades.

Nola and Castro could’ve simply stayed in Anaheim, where the Padres open a two-game series on Wednesday after an off-day on Tuesday. But Preller had traded both catchers on his roster. That meant Nola and Castro had to make the round-trip flight -- to Colorado and back to Anaheim later that night. The Padres sent a car service for both of them, and put both of them on a private jet to Denver Monday morning.

“I just played him in L.A., and now we’re both going to the same place,” Nola said. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened -- two catchers playing against each other going to the same team.”

Nola got the start and caught five pitchers he’d never caught before. Garrett Richards, Adrian Morejon, Pierce Johnson, Drew Pomeranz and Rosenthal all put up zeros. Turns out it was useful that the Padres faced Nola’s Mariners last week before they left for Colorado.

“We faced all of them,” Nola said. “We did a pretty in-depth scouting report with each pitcher with the Mariners. So that helped a lot, knowing what pitches they have and where they’re throwing their pitches. I guess it’s convenient that we just played them.” 

Nola paused, unsure of the right pronoun.

“Played us?”

It’s been that kind of weekend. The moves poured in, one after the other, so quickly it was hard to keep track. 

With a noticeably different roster than the one they used Sunday, the Padres finished a decisive series victory, outscoring the Rockies, 32-10.

“It was huge, so we could separate a little bit from them,” Tatis said. “They’re really close. This is a short season, so every game matters. We’ve just got to keep pushing. The job’s not done yet.”