​PHOENIX — Come on, you weren’t really fooled, were you?Did you actually believe those rumors that the San Diego Padres were going to trade All-Star closer Mason Miller?The trade talks with the New York Yankees about Miller and setup man Adrian Morejon?The speculation they would be packaging Miller to dump one of their star players with a bloated contract?Or the wild notion they would just completely give up at the trade deadline, and orchestrate a sell-off for prospects?Please.The Padres and A.J. Preller, their president of baseball operations, don’t operate that way.They are always in, pushing their chips into the middle of the table, no matter what the cost.Remember when owner Peter Seidler was alive? He was bidding on everyone from Trea Turner to Aaron Judge, jumping in and offering Judge a 10-year, $400 million contract at the last minute, even though they already had a right fielder in Juan Soto, who they intended to keep.The payroll was slashed when Seidler passed, going from $256 million in 2023 to $173 million the following season and now $219 million, but it still didn’t slow down Preller’s aggressiveness, who dozes off occasionally at night, just long enough to charge his cell phone.So the Padres, hovering around .500 at the trade deadline, went shopping while other wild-card contenders facing the same odds sat idly by. Preller brought former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and All-Star starter Casey Mize to the San Diego party.Sure, they don’t have a shot to catch the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are in a fight for their lives just to knock off the Arizona Diamondbacks or Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card race. Still, no matter the odds, no matter their offensive struggles, no matter their flawed starting rotation, they went all-in.Once again.“We’re trying to win,” says Preller. “We don’t apologize for it. We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason and do it year after year.”Certainly, they’ve become October regulars. The Padres have reached the postseason four times in the last six years, but have yet to reach the World Series since 1998, and are still searching for their first title in the 57-year history of the franchise.The way they see it, if they can survive going with just two traditional starters for weeks, Fernando Tatis Jr. going two months until hitting his first homer, Manny Machado’s batting average not climbing above .200 until July, second baseman Jake Cronenworth out two months with a concussion, and center fielder Jackson Merrill hitting .219 with a .628 OPS the first half, anything is possible.“We’re definitely in a much better spot than we were,” Padres starter Michael King tells USA TODAY Sports.  “We went through a stretch where it was just Walker [Buehler] and I that were even throwing bullpens in between starts. No one else could because just about every day was a bullpen game.”And yet, the crazy part is that it actually worked, even with Randy Vasquez