SAN DIEGO — The Padres beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Sunday, getting to 90 wins for the first time since 2010 and for just the fifth season in franchise history.

They did it in front of an often-frenzied crowd of 45,197 at Petco Park, which vaulted the organization to a new attendance record.

After the game — and a bit of mutual admiration — some in the crowd and a few members of the team strolled out to Gallagher Square to take in the Los Tucanes de Tijuana concert.

And then everyone went home.

The plan, had it been necessary, was for Padres players and staff to hang out in the clubhouse and watch the Mets and Phillies game on TV, as losses by the Braves and Mets Sunday would have sparked a celebration of clinching a playoff berth.

But the Braves closed out their 5-4 victory over the Marlins shortly after the Padres and White Sox began playing, meaning the plastic and Veuve Cliquot on ice and, later, the professional carpet cleaners would not be needed.

No one really wanted to celebrate on delay anyway.

“It just feels different,” Jurickson Profar said. “We just have to keep winning and not worry about what other teams are going to do.”

What the Padres did recognize Sunday were the record-breaking throngs that came to watch them this season. The crowds topped 45,000 all three games this weekend against an historically bad opponent, setting a Petco Park record for a three-game series and pushing the season attendance total to 3,314,593. That broke the record set last year by a little more than 82,000.

As the Padres walked toward the dugout after shaking hands following the final out, the crowd broke into a “Beat L.A.” chant, fitting given the Padres’ upcoming series against the Dodgers. A few minutes later, Padres players and coaches returned to the field to clap and wave toward the stands.

“It has been awesome coming to the ballpark every single day with the fan support,” Manny Machado said. “Sellout crowd every day, Monday through Sunday. It’s been an amazing year playing in front of these fans, and we're going to continue to play in front of them for the next couple weeks and hopefully the next month-and-a-half.”

The Padres will bus to Los Angeles on Monday, where they can clinch a playoff berth with a victory on Tuesday.

Sunday’s victory, coupled with the Diamondbacks’ loss in Milwaukee, increased the Padres’ lead in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot to three games. After they play the Dodgers, the Padres will go to Phoenix to play the Diamondbacks in the final three games of the regular season.

That series could decide which team hosts a best-of-three wild-card series to start the postseason.

But the Padres will head north with another goal. They can win the NL West for the first time since 2006.

“That’s why we put ourselves in that position as a team,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “Now it’s time to take control of the situation.”

As many Padres watched in various corners of the clubouse, the Dodgers got home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts in the ninth inning Sunday to beat the Rockies 6-5 and maintain their three-game lead in the division. The Padres hold the tiebreaker with the Dodgers by virtue of having already clinched the season series between the teams. Sweeping the three-game series at Dodger Stadium would put the Padres in control of the West.

Asked what he expected from the series against the Dodgers, Machado said: “I’ll tell you when we get there. Let’s celebrate this win today.”

The Padres got themselves to the precipice of their third playoff appearance in five years (and pushed the White Sox to the edge of infamy) by coming back to tie Sunday’s game twice and winning with three runs in the eighth inning.

Those runs scored on back-to-back doubles by Donovan Solano and pinch-hitter Luis Arraez, a sacrifice fly by Profar and a home run by Tatis.

Profar’s solo homer in the third inning had tied the game 1-1.

The White Sox, whose 120th loss of the season tied an MLB record held the past six-plus decades by the 1962 Mets, had taken leads of 1-0 (on a homer by Vista High alumnus Korey Lee) and 2-1 (on a homer by Miguel Vargas) against Yu Darvish.

Darvish allowed just one other hit in 6⅓ innings, while striking out nine. The sixth of those was the 2,000th of his career, making him the first Japanese-born pitcher to reach the mark and the 90th pitcher in MLB history to do so.

Adrián Morejón got the final two outs in the seventh inning, and Jeremiah Estrada worked a scoreless eighth to get the Padres in position to perpetrate their 37th comeback victory. And Robert Suarez worked a scoreless ninth for his 34th save.

The Padres scored the deciding run in their final offensive at-bat for the 22nd time this season.

“Competed the whole day,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Fought back, down, fought back and were able to bring it home.”

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