SAN DIEGO -- Petco Park was packed to the very last row -- another sellout, bringing the season-long attendance in San Diego to a franchise-record 3,232,310.

The Padres treated their home fans to a show on Sunday. They routed the Cardinals, 12-2. Juan Soto opened the scoring with a moonshot 461-foot, three-run homer in the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. robbed Michael Siani of a certain home run in the sixth. The San Diego offense scored in each of the first six innings.

When the game ended, the Padres engaged in their customary handshakes and high-fives. Before retreating to the home clubhouse, a handful of them paused and saluted the fans. Manager Bob Melvin, from his usual perch at the top step of the dugout, spent several moments applauding the capacity crowd.

“They stayed with it the whole way, even though our season was far from perfect,” Melvin said. “But they were here every night. It was nice to send them off with a good show.”

This wasn't supposed to be the end. But, for baseball at Petco Park in 2023, it almost certainly was. Results elsewhere on Sunday lowered the Padres' elimination number to two. A late run to the postseason is no longer a realistic proposition.

“For sure, we definitely underperformed as a group,” said third baseman Manny Machado, who was out of the lineup on Sunday as he continues to manage a right elbow injury that will require offseason surgery. “We didn’t play to our best abilities. As a group, we’re better than that, and we know that.”

In a way, the Padres’ weekend offered a perfect encapsulation of their season. In their loss on Saturday night, they fell to 0-12 in extra innings. The only other team to play in at least 12 extra-inning games and not win any of them was the 1969 Montreal Expos, who also went 0-12 that season. Along the way, they stranded runners and failed to convert countless opportunities.

Then, on Sunday, they pounded out 12 runs and a season-high-tying 18 hits in a rout. Surely, a few of those would’ve been useful a day earlier. But that’s how it’s gone this year. The Padres have been dismal in close games. Their run differential sits at +91, the fourth-best mark in the National League, but they don’t hang run-differential pennants.

“We’ve played this game a lot,” Melvin said of Sunday’s victory. “We’ve played [Saturday’s] game a lot. We just haven’t had enough in the middle to where we’ve taken advantage of close games, especially here at home. … It’s been two different teams and two different types of games. How to explain it? I wish I could.”

Which left the Padres to depart for their season-ending road trip through San Francisco and Chicago with more questions than answers. When they return to Petco Park in 2024, it’s fair to wonder just how different they’ll look.

The Padres core remains mostly intact, though they have several key pending free agents, including Blake Snell and Josh Hader, and Seth Lugo has a player option. The team has an interesting decision on whether to pick up Michael Wacha’s two-year, $32 million option. (Wacha pitched seven innings of two-run ball on Sunday, lowering his season  ERA to 3.39.)

But beyond the roster -- which is going to face at least some turnover this winter -- questions about Melvin’s status will linger into the offseason, or at least until they are addressed by the team’s brass. Melvin, who has another year remaining on his contract, recently said, “I’m doing my job like I always have until someone tells me different, and I have not been told that.”

“We’ve got to go out there and continue to play, continue to play for him,” Machado said. “Honestly, I’m not a GM. … Ultimately that’s not my decision. At the end of the day, we all believe in what he’s done and continues to do, and we all have respect for him.”

The questions about Machado will persist as well, likely into the start of the 2024 season -- or at least into Spring Training. Machado has been told that his recovery from tennis-elbow surgery will last about six months. He’s expected to be able to hit before he’s able to throw at full strength, meaning it’s possible he opens the year as the team’s designated hitter.

“The season’s not done,” Machado said. “But next year, I think, will be better. I think we’re going to perform a lot better. I think we’re going to exceed expectations, and [the fans] are going to be out there to support us no matter what. 

“They’ve showed us all year this year that they’re capable of doing that.”