New York's issues are more about who's missing from the lineup card than who's missing from the mound. Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are both still on the 60-day IL, though Judge's activation could come as soon as the Yankees' next homestand — which starts after this series wraps, so don't expect him in the box score here.
Two games in this set — Friday and Saturday in San Diego — come before Sunday's finale, and both are still to be played, so nothing about how this series stands is settled yet. What is settled is the shape of each roster walking in: New York arriving with real firepower after blowout wins over Boston, San Diego trying to stabilize after a rough week against Tampa Bay and Cincinnati.
King's last time out was about as clean as it gets — 6 innings, no runs, 6 strikeouts in a win over Cincinnati — and if he brings that version of himself to the mound Sunday, San Diego has a real shot at salvaging whatever's left of the weekend. But a Padres club playing without its top three depth-chart starting options doesn't get many freebies, and a banged-up New York lineup has made a habit lately of hanging crooked numbers on struggling pitching staffs.
For San Diego, every game down the stretch is a wild-card fight — the margin between them and the field chasing that last NL spot has been razor thin all September. For New York, it's about not letting ground slip in a crowded AL wild-card picture while waiting on reinforcements to get healthy. Different stakes, same urgency, and neither team can afford to treat this like a get-right game.