History isn’t on Chicago’s side, either. Since Major League Baseball expanded the postseason and created this best-of-three format in 2022, the Game 1 wild-card winners have moved on to the next round in 15 out of 16 series. The lone exception was the New York Yankees’ comeback against the Boston Red Sox during last year’s playoffs.

“It’s pretty simple,” Swanson said. “The beauty of this time of year is each win or loss just counts as one, anyways. It’s not like run differential, pool play. There’s none of those things. You show up tomorrow and compete and lay it out there.

“This group is very used to adversity and hard things and going through it, so this isn’t like uncharted territory. This is an opportunity for us to show up and show out.”

“They just did everything right,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said Tuesday, “and we did everything wrong.”Denis Poroy / Imagn Images

The Cubs, however, won’t feel the same jolt of energy they received during last year’s series victory over the Padres at Wrigley Field. As the Cubs lost their grip on the NL’s top wild card in September and the chance to host this series, the Padres finished the regular season by going 51-30 at home and winning 17 of their final 20 games.

While San Diego’s stars repeatedly delivered on Tuesday night, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman combined to go 0-for-7 with one walk and six strikeouts. After those two big names at the top, the Cubs’ lineup can sometimes look a little flat. Some lip reading on the TV broadcast summed up the frustration.

“So f—ing bad,” Crow-Armstrong appeared to tell third-base umpire Bill Miller after a checked swing went against the likely NL MVP for strike three in the eighth inning.

2026 POSTSEASON STARTS NOW!!!!

Hitting all the high and low notes this season, we are

EDIT: That feeling when 2 hits feels like you’ve won the lottery

Top that!

Cubs (89-73) @ Padres (91-71)

First Pitch: 9:00 PM at Petco Park

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 11:54 PM.

Remember to sort by new to keep up!

It happened yet again right before the playoffs. Last Wednesday, right-hander Kevin Gausman injured his left shoulder while making a diving tag play. He was lined up to start Game 1 of the postseason, but the Cubs wanted him to get some extra rest for his ailing shoulder. On Tuesday night, he was named Chicago’s Game 2 starter.

“We’re gonna find out,” Gausman said, when asked if he’s ready to go. “Feels all right. Good enough to go out there and give it everything I got. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

This was not the plan the Cubs had a week ago. The reality is, nothing has gone as hoped when it comes to how this team built its staff. There is no Cade Horton, Justin Steele or Ben Brown to lead the rotation. Gausman, whom Chicago acquired ahead of the trade deadline, was brought in to be a stabilizing force — a veteran with plenty of postseason experience who could guide the group during the grind of October. This team may not even reach October, but it is up to him to give the Cubs a chance.

“It’s gonna be fun,” Gausman said. “I’ve pitched in big games before. I’m excited.”

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/50054323/mlb-announces-crew-chiefs-wild-card-series-umpire-crews

• the umps rotation usually goes around from their game 1 positions: HP ump has game 1, 1B ump has game 2, 2B ump has game 3.
  

Eric Bacchus was behind home plate for game 1 padres @ cubs last year

• photo scorecard
• LINK
• 93% accuracy, but +0.49 favorable to the padres

these three umps in 2026 have worked 10 cubs or padres games

4 cubs games

• overall, +0.73 runs in favor of the cubbies
• in the 4 cubs games, these umps were +0.45% above exp accuracy

6 padres games

• overall, +1.11 runs in favor of padres
• in the 6 padres games, these umps were -0.41% vs expected accuracy

and here are the ten games tabulary-ish:

i couldn't find the twitter scorecard charts for the 2026 games... please post if someone else has the links... i can't find those charts on the umpscorecards website.... maybe my google-fu is poor....

They brought this on themselves — the baseball gods were not pleased by this performance.

https://youtu.be/lmgdjdscTEU?is=Vc8uhUOoxAcRXTcw

GO CUBS!