Padres defeat Cubs to Force a Winner-Take-All Game

by Jake Lax, October 06, 2025

The Wild Card series started on Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs hosted their first playoff game since 2020. The Cubs managed to pull away a 3-1 win against the Padres to come one win away from moving forward. However, the Padres, with their back against the wall, had other plans.

Dylan Cease started the game for the Padres, who had put together a decent regular season, finishing 6th in the MLB in strikeouts. While Cease has been good in the regular season, he’s struggled up to this point in the postseason, with a 0-1 record and a career postseason ERA of 12.91. As for the Cubs, they started relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge, who pitched 53 innings in the regular season.

The game started with a lead-off single from Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr and then followed up with another single from Luis Arraez. With center fielder Jackson Merrill up to bat, Tatis Jr and Arreaz stole 2nd and 3rd base to set San Diego up with runners in scoring position. Merrill was then able to hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Tatis Jr and sending Arreaz to 3rd as the Padres took a one-run lead in the top of the first.

Dylan Cease was able to shut down the Cubs’ bats in the bottom half of the inning, only allowing one hit and striking out Ian Happ. The top of the second inning saw Cubs manager Craig Counsell go to starting pitcher Shota Imanaga to replace Andrew Kittredge. Imanaga was able to go three up three down in the top of the second, settling in easily. Cease didn’t slow down either, striking out two more in the bottom half of the inning, showing that his past playoff performances weren’t going to define today’s outing. The top of the third inning saw San Diego catcher Freddy Fermin hit a leadoff double, but the Padres left him stranded. The Cubs also started the third with a lead-off base hit from Dansby Swanson. Swanson was able to steal second base on a wild pitch; however, Chicago also left the runner stranded on second to end the third inning.

The fourth inning saw the Padres have a chance to extend their lead as Jackson Merrill had a lead-off walk to start the inning. The designated hitter, Ryan O’Hearn, hit a one-out single to set San Diego up with a runner in scoring position. Padres’ manager Mike Shildt brought in pinch-hitter Jose Iglesias to replace Gavin Sheets to try to score a run. Iglesias was unable to advance the runners, flying out to center field for the second out of the inning. Shota Imanaga was able to escape the inning on a groundout from Jake Cronenworth for out number three. Cease came back out to pitch in the fourth inning and struck out his first two batters. It was Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki, who forced Cease out of the game. Suzuki homered in yesterday’s game and today hit a line drive double. This forced San Diego to intentionally walk Carson Kelly and go to the bullpen. San Diego brought in left-hander Adrian Morejon to face Pete Crow-Armstrong. Morejon was able to get the job done with a groundout to first for out number three. The Padres would go to the 5th still up 1-0.

With Imanaga still on the mound for Chicago, the Padres had the top of the lineup due up for the 5th. Tatis Jr. got on first from a walk, and Luis Arraez was able to move him over on a sacrifice bunt. This brought up third baseman Manny Machado, who smashed the first pitch he saw 404 feet to left field, extending the Padres’ lead to 3. It was the Padres’ bullpen that shut the door from this point forward. Morejon was able to pitch the bottom of the 5th and 6th, going three up three down in both. As the bottom of the 7th inning came, San Diego brought in right-hander Mason Miller, who was pitching heat. Miller was able to strike out the side, throwing 7 pitches over 100 MPH.

The Chicago bullpen was able to keep them in this game up to this point, only allowing 2 hits in 3 innings since Imanaga exited. As for San Diego, Mason Miller went back out for the bottom of the 8th and looked incredible. The right-hander struck out two more batters before finally allowing his first base runner on a hit by pitch. At this point, needing just 4 more outs, San Diego was set up to bring in their closer, Robert Suarez, who led the National League in saves during the regular season. Suarez got out of the eighth inning, which led us to the 9th inning with the Cubs still down 3-0. The top of the 9th saw the Padres go three up three down and ready to rely on the arm of their closer to bring them the win. Suarez worked through his first batter, then Kyle Tucker hit a single to right field, giving the Cubs hope. With a man on first and 1 out, Seiya Suzuki came to the plate. Suzuki worked Suarez to a full count before hitting himself into a double play to end the game.

The Padres took game two of the wild card series 3-0, giving us a winner-take-all game tomorrow afternoon. The big difference in this one was Manny Machado’s run home run and the outstanding job by the Padres pitchers, striking out 11 Cubs batters and only allowing 4 hits. The Wild Card series will finish up tomorrow with Yu Darvish on the mound for San Diego and Jameson Taillon pitching for the Cubs. The winner of tomorrow’s game will travel to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in the Divisional series, with the first game coming on Saturday, October 4th.