For the second straight year, the Chicago Cubs will play the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card round of the MLB Playoffs. This time around, it’ll be a road series for the Cubs, who lost home-field advantage in the final week of the regular season. The Padres have been on fire in September, winning 17 of their last 21 games to win the right to host their Wild Card Series against the Cubs.
Saturday’s 10-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks locked in the Cubs vs. Padres series in San Diego, meaning Sunday’s regular-season finale for the Cubs at Tropicana Field against the Boston Red Sox won’t matter in the standings. Yet, the Diamondbacks, who are still alive for the final Wild Card spot, have a chance to get in if they beat the Padres on Sunday and if the Philadelphia Phillies lose on Sunday.
As for the Cubs and Padres, Chicago won the season series 4-2. However, both teams will look different next week, since they last faced off at the end of June, when the Cubs swept the Padres at Wrigley Field. The Padres won two of three at Petco Park in April over the Cubs.
San Diego ripped away home-field advantage this past week, winning a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Cubs lost two of three at home to the Miami Marlins and then lost both games of their Friday doubleheader to the Red Sox.
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The Cubs have had a hectic few days of travel: they went from Chicago to Boston Thursday night, then flew from Boston to St. Petersburg Friday night. Now, they’ll be flying from Florida cross-country to California for Game 1 of their Wild Card Series in San Diego.
While Sunday’s game against the Red Sox might not end up mattering for the Cubs, there will be one important pitching performance from veteran starter Kevin Gausman. The right-handed pitcher is scheduled to pitch a bullpen session, and the Cubs are hopeful that he feels better after banging up his left shoulder earlier this week against the Marlins. Gausman made a diving tag at third base in his last start of the regular season, and on the play he landed awkwardly on his left shoulder.
Gausman is the projected Game 1 starter for the Cubs, but his status is dependent on how he feels after throwing on Sunday.
The Cubs beat the Padres in three games to advance to the NLDS in 2025. It was a very competitive series, as the Cubs only outscored the Padres 6-5 in the best-of-three series.
Padres Getting Hot Heading Into Playoffs
With only one week left in the regular season and six games remaining for each team, much of the MLB postseason seeding is still up in the air. The Chicago Cubs are a win away from clinching their second consecutive playoff berth, and although they’re currently slotted into the top Wild Card seed and thus have home-field advantage in the first round, they’re not necessarily locked into a home Wild Card series thanks to a late-season surge by the San Diego Padres.
We could see a Wild Card rematch from the 2025 MLB Playoffs, as the Padres have jumped up the standings and now share the Cubs’ record. However, the Cubs do hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Padres, so at this point they remain in the No. 1 Wild Card spot.
The Padres have been on a remarkable run that began after they lost a series on the road to the Cincinnati Reds at the start of September. Since then, the Padres are 14-2 with series wins over the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and the Miami Marlins. So, while they haven’t faced the toughest opponents besides the Yankees, the Padres are the hottest team in MLB and are gaining confidence heading into the playoffs.
During this 16-game stretch, the Padres have the No. 1 offense in MLB, posting an incredible 140 wRC+ and averaging six runs per game, second-best in the league.
