Joe Musgrove Returns to the Padres After Two-Year Tommy John Layoff

Joe Musgrove is finally coming back to the San Diego Padres rotation. After missing all of 2025 and spending the entire 2026 season to date recovering from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander is officially being activated from the injured list.

This is the rare late-season reinforcement that actually moves the needle. Musgrove recently wrapped up a rehab assignment where he tossed 39 pitches over 2.2 innings, which means he is not going to be throwing complete games right out of the gate. But getting a guy with his pedigree back on a big-league mound is a massive upgrade over whatever emergency arm a team usually has to scrape together in late September.

"Padres To Activate Joe Musgrove"

Before his elbow decided to clock out, Musgrove was a reliable anchor for San Diego. He posted a 3.88 ERA with 101 strikeouts across his last active stretch in 2023 and 2024. He is also the guy who threw the only no-hitter in franchise history back in 2021, so the fan base treats him like royalty.

Expecting a pitcher to immediately return to peak form after a two-year layoff is like expecting your car to run perfectly after sitting in a garage since the last presidential election. The rust is going to be real. Still, the Padres have been treading water lately, dropping two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks right after taking a series from the Los Angeles Dodgers. They need stable innings, even if those innings come with a strict pitch count.

For anyone looking at the betting markets, Musgrove returning throws a massive wrench into how you evaluate San Diego's pitching staff. Oddsmakers are going to have a tough time pricing a guy who has not pitched in a real major league game since 2024. If you are backing the Padres in his starts, you are betting on adrenaline and muscle memory over recent data.

San Diego hosts the Chicago Cubs for a two-game set starting on September 30. Whether Musgrove takes the ball in one of those games or slots in shortly after, his activation is the best news the Padres have had in months. Now we just have to see if his elbow agrees.