CHICAGO — The Cubs have shifted their attention to the San Diego Padres.

As they prepare to embark on Game 1 of the 2025 MLB playoffs Tuesday, the Cubs’ full focus is on winning that three-game NL Wild Card Series against the NL West runners-up.

[MORE: Cubs vs Padres MLB playoff schedule: 2025 NL Wild Card Series dates, times]

The first step will be selecting the best 26-man roster that the Cubs believe can get the job done. The roster size drops back down to 26 in the postseason, after having ballooned by two spots in the final month of the season.

The Cubs will be permitted to carry a maximum of 13 pitchers on their wild-card roster, although it’s far from a guarantee they have that many hurlers — many teams in the history of the three-game set have carried 12 or even 11.

The Cubs’ roster seemed clear a few days ago, but Cade Horton’s rib fracture, followed by his subsequent trip to the 15-day injured list, means he won’t be a factor and created some questions about the roster spots.

So, who will make the final cut? We take a stab at predicting the 26 players who will be tasked with giving the Cubs their first playoff victory since 2017. Note, the final 26-man roster is due Tuesday morning and no changes can be made after that, unless the team requests permission from the Commissioner’s Office for an injured player.

PITCHERS (12)Starters (3)

LHP Matthew Boyd
LHP Shota Imanaga
RHP Colin Rea

The big miss is, of course, Horton, whom the Cubs had lined up to start Game 1.

“I’m really disappointed for us and for Cade, but also, in this situation, you just have to really move forward mentally quickly,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer told Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Jim Deshaies during Saturday afternoon’s Marquee Sports Network broadcast of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Moving forward” likely means pushing up the team’s starters a day. Boyd lines up to start the series. The All-Star, though, doesn’t come without question marks. Before his final start of the regular season, Boyd had a 5.77 ERA in his eight starts before Wednesday’s outing (where he allowed two runs on 5.1 innings against the New York Mets).

Imanaga, too, has struggled lately. The Japanese hurler had a 6.51 ERA in his five September starts and gave up 10 home runs. He had his worst start of the year to end the regular-season slate, allowing eight runs on nine hits with two home runs.

The upside with both, though, is the fact that the Padres struggled against left-handed pitching this year. They have a .684 OPS, the 19th-best mark in baseball, against lefties, and five regulars — Luis Arráez, Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Ryan O’Hearn and Gavin Sheets — hit from the left side.

Rea enters the playoffs amidst the best stretch of his season. The right-hander has allowed only one run over 12.2 innings in his last starts, amassing 18 strikeouts. The 35-year-old has a 3.95 ERA in 159.1 innings this season, a surprise performance for a player signed to a one-year, $5 million contract in the winter, with the expectation that he’d primarily serve as a swingman.

In a do-or-die Game 3, the starter likely isn’t expected for depth, because the nature of the situation would cause Cubs manager Craig Counsell to be aggressive with his bullpen anyway.

Relievers (9)

RHP Aaron Civale
RHP Brad Keller
RHP Andrew Kittredge
RHP Daniel Palencia
RHP Michael Soroka
RHP Jameson Taillon
LHP Drew Pomeranz
LHP Caleb Thielbar
LHP Taylor Rogers

Civale and Taillon would be the surprises here, but they’re on here for two reasons: One, the Cubs will want some length options. If the first game becomes a blowout — one way or another — Counsell likely will want a long-relief option to gobble up innings and preserve his bullpen. The other is if there’s a Game 3 and the starter is yanked early, they might want a longer relief option to help eat innings.

The Cubs likely would try to avoid using Taillon, though, hoping that he’d start in a potential NLDS Game 1.

The two omissions from the current Cubs roster are Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks. Assad started Sunday’s regular-season finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, a 2-0 win, tossing 5.1 scoreless innings with three hits and six strikeouts. He threw 79 pitches and saved the Cubs’ pitching staff. Having him cover 16 outs essentially keeps him down for four days and means he’s out of the wild-card roster picture.

Wicks, meanwhile, was added after Horton landed on the IL and, like Assad, covered bulk innings in Sunday’s win. He picked up a three-inning save, throwing 41 pitches. That likely keeps him down for a few days and — given the fact the Cubs don’t necessarily need another long-relief option — rules him out of this projection.

The rest of the bullpen is fairly straightforward, as the Cubs will want three southpaws to combat the Padres’ lefties.

POSITION PLAYERS (14)Catchers (3)

Moisés Ballesteros
Carson Kelly
Reese McGuire

No real shock here, as this group has been a welcome surprise this season. Miguel Amaya (left ankle sprain) had a rehab assignment in Triple-A Iowa before the season ended and will join the team Monday, but he likely won’t be activated for the playoff roster.

One inclusion — Ballesteros — has played himself onto the roster with his September performances. He hit .333/.435/.564 (.999 OPS) with two home runs and five RBI while routinely in the middle of the lineup, with Kyle Tucker out with injury, in the final month.

While he’s played himself onto this roster, where he might fit in the lineup is more of a question mark. Suzuki and Tucker both hit well in the last few games and were forces at various points throughout the year in the middle of the Cubs’ lineup. That could leave Ballesteros out of the starting lineup but remaining a key bench bat.

Ballesteros started Sunday’s regular-season finale at catcher, and he played first base in Friday’s series opener against the Cardinals.

“You have a day that the result doesn’t matter, essentially, in terms of like what’s going to happen next,” Counsell said before Sunday’s finale. “So, you try to cover some things that could happen in the playoffs, and then just provide some kind of recency [experience] in case, frankly, unlikely scenarios happen.

Infielders (6)

Michael Busch
Willi Castro
Nico Hoerner
Matt Shaw
Dansby Swanson
Justin Turner

No real surprises here, either. Two of the Cubs’ bench bats occupy infield spots — Castro provides positional versatility, and Turner is their right-handed hitting option.

Outfielders (5)

Kevin Alcántara
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
Kyle Tucker

The inclusion of Alcántara might be a bit of a surprise, but the Cubs — and Counsell, especially — want to have cover for almost any scenario that might arise. Alcántara could be their best backup center field option if it’s needed, and he’s a solid pinch runner, too.