Chicago Cubs Face San Diego Padres in Wild-Card Series

The Chicago Cubs, seeded fifth, are set to compete against the San Diego Padres, who are the fourth seed, in a National League wild-card series. This best-of-three series will commence on Tuesday at Petco Park.

The Cubs secured second place in the NL Central for the fourth year running, following the Milwaukee Brewers who clinched the division title for the fourth time consecutively. During their most recent playoff run, the Cubs triumphed over the Padres in a wild-card series at Wrigley Field but were later defeated by the Brewers in a closely contested division series.

Throughout this season, the Cubs demonstrated dominance over the Padres, with a 5-1 record and superior scoring tally of 55-28, including a massive 23-3 victory on July 1.

The Cubs have only faced off in a postseason series in San Diego once before. This took place during the 1984 National League Championship Series, where the Padres emerged victorious in all three home games, overturning a series deficit to win 3-2.

The upcoming matchup schedule is as follows:

• Game 1: Tuesday, 9 p.m.
• Game 2: Wednesday, 9 p.m.
• Game 3: Thursday, TBD, if necessary

All matches will be broadcast on Peacock/NBCSN.

If the Cubs advance, they will face the top-seeded Brewers in the division series, which follows a 2-2-1 format and takes place from October 3-10. The second-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers are set to challenge either the Atlanta Braves or the No. 6 seed winner in their division series.

Further postseason games include the championship series, occurring from October 11-20, adopting a 2-3-2 format.

Other news surrounding the Cubs includes uncertainty in their wild-card rotation due to Kevin Gausman’s shoulder injury. There is also discussion on whether fans will witness a memorable performance from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani.

Pete Crow-Armstrong has notably achieved a 40-40 season—making him the first Cub to do so and only the seventh player in MLB history.

Both the Cubs and White Sox will begin their wild-card series away from home on Tuesday. Despite Alex Bregman’s return, the Cubs endured a doubleheader sweep, dealing a blow to their home wild-card aspirations.