The Padres manager did not need a complicated explanation for this one: the pitching staff simply overwhelmed the Chicago Cubs when it mattered most. Across two games, San Diego allowed only one run in 18 innings, a number that says as much about control and depth as it does about survival in October.
That matters because the Cubs arrived with a regular-season offensive profile that looked built for trouble. They led baseball in OPS at.767, drove in 804 runs and walked more than any other team in the sport. In other words, this was not a lineup that usually needed many mistakes handed to it. The Padres made sure there were almost none.
A rotation and bullpen answer the moment
Game 1 set the tone. Michael King threw seven scoreless innings and allowed only one hit, while Joe Musgrove helped finish the final two innings. That kind of efficiency does more than protect a lead; it changes the shape of a series by forcing the opponent to spend one night chasing shadows.
Game 2 was not quite as clean, but it was still firmly on San Diego’s terms. Nick Pivetta worked three 1/3 innings, and the bullpen handled the rest. The Cubs managed one run and three hits, but they never found a stretch that looked like sustained pressure. Even when Chicago had traffic, the Padres kept the damage limited.
Across the Wild Card Series, San Diego gave up just eight hits and one run. That is an elite short-series number by any standard, but it is especially striking against a team that had punished opponents all regular season. The Cubs were held to a.129 average over the series and struck out four times, which tells you how often Padres pitchers won the battle before the at-bat had fully developed.
The broader point is not just that the Padres won. It is that they won by taking away the one thing the Cubs expected to lean on most: offense. In October, that is often the cleanest path forward. Talent matters, but so does preventing the other team from ever getting comfortable.
Now San Diego moves on to face the Milwaukee Brewers, the National League’s No. 1 seed and one of the top offenses during the regular season. Game 1 is set for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The next test is bigger, but the message from this series is already clear: the Padres manager has a staff that can carry real weight when the stakes rise.
