Front Row Seat: The MLB Playoffs are (finally) here
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Darren Smith
Darren Smith
John Gennaro
San Diego Padres
Padres-Cubs NLWC position-by-position breakdown - MLB.com
For the first time since 1984, somehow, the Cubs and Padres are set to square off in the National League playoffs. It hasn't been quite that long since they've seen each other this season, but it might feel like it; while the two clubs split their six games in 2025, their entire head-to-head slate was wrapped up by April 16.
Needless to say, there's not a whole lot you can take away from games that happened more than five months ago, not that head-to-head matchups tell you a whole lot about what's going to happen in a playoff series, anyway.
All we can do, then, is look at who's here, who's healthy, and who's hot. Let's see who has the edge, position by position.
Padres’ season has always been about the postseason - San Diego Union-Tribune
“There’s no such thing as a big series, because every, every game that we play, we play with full intent,” left fielder Gavin Sheets said. “We obviously know ‘Shildty’ is trying to win every game. And that’s how it should be. Playing for Tony La Russa was the same way. How are we gonna win tonight and we’ll figure out tomorrow. When you have that motto, I don’t think that there’s a team or a series that’s any more important than the other. And then once you get to the playoffs, it’s the same thing. So we won’t change. I think you see some teams change their style when they get to the postseason.”
54 Outs to Freedom: Padres vs. Cubs NL Wild Card Preview - FanGraphs
The winner of this series will have quite a bit more work to do before it can start thinking about a World Series berth. Both of these teams have been locked into Wild Card berths but locked out of a division title for quite some time, which means they’ve flown under the radar to some extent down the stretch.
In the Cubs’ case, that lack of attention his probably been a blessing. On paper, this is a highly dangerous team, with a legitimate five-man-deep rotation, a bullpen that’s benefited from some midseason reinforcements, and best-in-the-league up-the-middle defense. It’d be nice if the Cubs had a true monster power threat, but they do have six players who hit between 22 and 34 home runs, and plenty of dudes like Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker, and Seiya Suzuki, who make you go, “Dang, that guy can flat-out hit.”
The Padres’ Jeremiah Estrada has come a long way since Cubs DFA’d him - San Diego Union-Tribune
Coaches took away his curveball at one point and his change-up at another point. The club optioned him four times over the course of the next year to the point that he had maybe a couple weeks of service time when the Cubs designated him for assignment. It was Nov. 1, 2023 — Estrada’s 25th birthday.
He was ready for the split.
“It just wasn’t a good fit,” Estrada said. “It felt like (like) … one shoe was making your feet curl and the other shoe, you had this much room left (to grow).”
The Padres claimed Estrada a few days later. The reliever vibed immediately with pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz.
“Here, it was, ‘Let me see what you got,’” Estrada said, as opposed to being shoehorned into an organization’s vision that didn’t exactly align with his.
