Padres-Cubs Wild Card Series Preview: Two of the NL’s most exciting teams go at it!

The Padres’s and Cubs are about to take us back to 1984. Back in the days of Cabbage Patch Kids, the first Ghostbusters movie, and Prince and Madonna dominating the pop music charts, San Diego and the Northsiders from Chicago staged a thriller, another popular song that year in which the Padres’s rallied from a 200 hole in the best of five with Steve Garvey walking it off in game four and the Friars staging a late rally in the winner take all game five. More than 40 years later, here they are again. this time as the top two wildcard clubs in the National League in a best of three wildcard series that begins Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Wrigley will be rocking. The iconic venue actually hasn’t hosted a postseason game with fans since 2018, so Cubs fans will be ready to bring the noise. By clinching their spots bright and early and even having their matchup set several days before the conclusion of the regular season, both of these clubs were able to line up their pitching properly. That was an especially good thing for the Padres’s because with Michael King having only recently returned to the Padres’s from a nerve injury and knee issues that cost him 3 and 1/2 months of the season, they could benefit from the extra time to sort out their starting situation. But the Cubs unfortunately ran out of time with rookie of the year candidate Cade Horton, whose departure with a fractured rib in the final week of the season is a big blow to their rotation plans for this series. But because this is a series short of Sai Young level aces, you can bet the Bullpens will play a major role in the outcome. Despite a late season injury to Jason Adams, the Padres’s possess a pen widely considered to be the best in the postseason field, anchored by trade acquisition Mason Miller along with Robert Suarez and Adrien Morahon, all of whom have been allstars in the last two seasons. But the Cubs bullpen is sneaky good too, having greatly improved its strikeout rate in the second half behind an evolved cast that now includes Andrew Kitridge, Taylor Rogers, and Drew Pomeran’s and the inseason strides made by Brad Keller. As far as what these teams deliver offensively, it’s the Cubs ample but inconsistent bats, which can be explosive when they’re running hot against the Padres’s employing more of a small ball style. Though the Padres’s did get 20 homer seasons from their stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, they were near the bottom of the majors in home runs. Instead, they manufacture runs with situational hitting and they’ve brought the sacrifice bunt back to baseball like well like it’s 1984. On that note, the biggest key to this series might be Kyle Tucker and what power he can provide. The Cubs went allin on the pending free agent in an offseason trade and in the first half they were richly rewarded with Tucker’s 931 OPS through the month of June. His power, speed, and plate discipline had a trickle effect on the rest of the lineup with Tucker and breakthrough star Pete Crow Armstrong proving a dynamic duo. PCA even provided the first 3030 season for the Cubs since Sammy Sosa. But Tucker suffered a hairline fracture in his hand in June, leading to a prolonged rut at the plate, and a calf strain kept him on the injured list for much of September. He only rejoined the Cubs in the final weekend of the regular season. So, his ability to catch fire quickly will greatly dictate how far the Cubs can go. Padres’s left fielder and trade acquisition Raone Lauraniano is on the opposite side of the injury spectrum, suffering a late season index finger fracture that has him unavailable for at least this round. That depletes the Padres’s bench and makes the use and performance of Gavin Sheets and Bryce Johnson, either of whom are options in left field, a big factor for the Friars in this series. Though the Padres’s don’t possess as much pure power as the Cubs, they might have the upper hand on the starting pitching front, if only because of Horton’s absence. And in a series devoid of guys who put up Sai Young caliber numbers this season, Nick Paveta did post up all year and delivered an ace type performance after his signing late in the offseason. He’ll be more than fully rested and ready for game one after putting up a career best 2.87 87 ERA and 148 ERA plus, which is 48% better than the league average. The key to the Cubs pitching success in this series might be the performance of Shota Imanaga, who gets his first postseason opportunity since coming over from Japan last year and will have to shake off an ugly outing at the conclusion of his 2025 regular season. The Cubs will also need big outs from Danny Palencia, whose breakout season when she sees the closer roll was interrupted in September by a shoulder strain. Manager Craig Council is no stranger to creatively pulling the levers with his relievers on this stage, but Palencia will be an important piece when trying to match outs with the Padres’s elite backend group. Two of the biggest X factors in the series could be Padres’s center fielder Jackson Merrill and Cub second baseman Nico. After a respplendant rookie year, Merrill endured a sophomore slump in 2025, but he finally seemed to hit his offensive stride in the month of September. Similarly, her a defensive gem at the Keystone, turned his offensive performance up a notch in the final month while taking on a more prominent spot near the top of the order while Tucker was away. All right, prediction time. What could possibly go wrong? The loss of Horton and the erratic offense are big issues for the Cubs. Though the Padres’s don’t hit a lot of balls over the fence, they will do just enough offensively and use their impressive pen to lock down a wildcard series win in the minimum of two games. It’ll be Padres’s over Cubs, just like 1984.

The Cubs and Padres met once in the postseason, back in the 1984 NLCS where San Diego took the series in five games. Will the Padres advance in search of their first franchise World Series title or do the Cubs have other plans for them?

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41 comments

  3. If the cubs had a healthy steele and a healthy horton this wouldnt be close hopefully ricketts spend more then 14 in the league nect year an dint pocket the extra 22 million they did from trsding bellinger an if you consider they gave tucker 16 million they traded bellinger got tucker an proffited 6/7 million from it lol must be nice being rich chespets😊

  11. Cant forget about the home advantage at wrigley. Fielding there almost every day gives you a major advantage especially down the line and in those corners, as well as wall awareness.

  19. I can’t stand it when I hear a lot of talking heads picking my team…never works out well. Most experts picked SD to beat LA last year 🤦‍♂️

    Go Padres!

  28. I was four when the Pads came back against my Cubs in 1984, one of my first memories. That Cubs team could’ve won it all. My parents were absolutely crushed, like absolutely gutted. Let’s hope my boys can rectify that. GCG!

  31. You forgot to mention that the Cubs were robbed by the MLB the last time these two teams played in the playoffs. They took the home field advantage from the Cubs because they did not play night games at Wrigley back then and the leagues wanted prime time games. Each team won all their home games, Padres advanced, Cubs were ripped off. It was crime, not a playoff series.

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