Padres fans tuning in for Tuesday night’s Wild Card opener against the Cubs will be hearing from a member of the Dodgers’ front office.

NBC Sports tabbed Clayton Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award winner who spent all 18 of his seasons in Los Angeles and has served as a Dodgers special assistant since retiring, as the “Inside the Pitch” analyst for the series, which opens Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 10 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN. Giants play-by-play voice Dave Flemming will call the action alongside Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies and Padres analyst Mark Grant, with John Fanta reporting from the field.

During a conference call with reporters on Monday, NBC’s Matt Borzello was asked why a pitcher so closely identified with the Dodgers ended up on the Padres-Cubs series, and he explained how the network divided its four “Inside the Pitch” analysts, beginning with the two — Anthony Rizzo and Joey Votto — who have logged the most time in the role.

“That was more we had Anthony call quite a few games on ‘Inside the Pitch,’ so we put him here in Yankee Stadium again, his attachment to the Yankees as well. Joey’s done ‘Inside the Pitch’ a few times, so we put him on that game in Atlanta. And then it was Clayton (Kershaw) and Adam (Ottavino) at that point. Both have done an excellent job all season. But it was no actual attachment there. Obviously, Clayton’s done the Dodgers games, but it’s more just kind of where the series fell to put him out there.”

With Rizzo and Votto accounted for, Adam Ottavino, the longtime reliever who pitched for both New York clubs, will be on the call for White Sox-Astros in Houston, leaving Kershaw with the series in San Diego.

NBC signed Kershaw, Rizzo and Votto in February to serve as analysts for select Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts and the Wild Card round, then unveiled “Inside the Pitch” on Opening Day, borrowing from the “On the Bench” and “Inside the Glass” concepts it had already rolled out for its NBA and NHL coverage, respectively. Ottavino handled the afternoon opener, and Kershaw followed that night with the Dodgers’ primetime game against the Diamondbacks.

The feature stations a former player away from the main booth to break down a pitcher’s plan of attack during pivotal at-bats, leaving the local analysts to carry most of the commentary for their respective fan bases. NBC pairs that analysis with footage from the camera worn by the home plate umpire, cutting between the standard broadcast angle and the umpire’s view as the analyst narrates the at-bat, which has also given viewers a clearer look at pitch location during ABS challenges. In his review of NBC’s first MLB broadcasts, Awful Announcing’s Brendon Kleen singled out Ottavino as the feature’s standout, while noting that Kershaw at times sounded more like he was delivering studio analysis layered over the action than walking viewers through the at-bat in real time.

NBC has since worked out the kinks, and the feature has been lauded as one of the more inventive broadcast wrinkles to hit sports media — let alone baseball — in years, but Kershaw hasn’t had many chances to benefit from those refinements, as his next assignment for the network after Opening Day didn’t come until August. To be fair, though, he has since worked a Dodgers-Braves game alongside Joe Davis on SportsNet LA, his first time as a color analyst on the team’s local telecast.