Padres shut down the Cubs to win Wild Card round, end the Cubs' 2026 season
Spiegs: "Cubs were embarrassing as hell" - Jesse: "This Sox series is over" | Chicago Sports Tonight
The Score’s Matt Spiegel and ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers recap the White Sox and Cubs’ results in their Game 1 matchups of the MLB Wild Card round. How can the Cubs rebound from what Spiegs says was an 'embarrassing performance?' Plus, can Sean Burke lock down the Astros offense and help the White Sox win their first playoff series since 2005? Jesse says 'this series is over.'
The Chicago Cubs came into the NL Wild Card round boasting the most potent offense in the major leagues.
That offense mustered just one run in two games. Case in point: The top of the Cubs’ order was 0-19 heading into the eighth inning.
Meanwhile, the hottest team in the MLB stayed red hot.
The Padres beat the Cubs xxxxx on Wednesday to eliminate the Northsiders. The Cubs now head to the offseason, falling short of the NLDS.
Padres shut the door:
The list of issues wasn’t a short one.
The top of the Cubs’ offensive order was ice cold. Likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong did not muster a hit in the series, as neither did Alex Bregman and Michael Busch.
Seiya Suzuki had two hits in two games. Nico Hoerner had an RBI, which served to be the only RBI the Cubs could get through in the series.
The Cubs were 2-for-66 with runners in scoring position in the past eight games before that Hoerner RBI single.
The story was simple. They went cold at the worst possible time.
Meanwhile, the Padres got an RBI from Ethan Salas, Xander Bogaerts and ex-White Sox player Gavin Sheets.
Sheets had the exclamation mark with a pinch-hit, two-run home run off Daniel Palencia, while the Cubs’ high-octane offense struggled to string together any kind of success.
After that, San Diego’s top-rated bullpen shut the door. Adrian Morejon set up Mason Miller, who shut the door on the Cubs’ season.
Never mind Hoerner's double. Miller shook it off to oust the Cubs.
Big picture view:
The expectation for the 2026 Cubs was to advance to the NLDS with an eye of going even further than that.
After losing to the Brewers in the 2025 NLDS, the Cubs acquired pitching and fortified their lineup by signing Alex Bregman. That lineup was streaky. The best example was early in the season, when the Northsiders won 10 games, lost 10 games right after and followed that with a 10-game winning streak.
The moments of brilliance were exhilarating. The Cubs led the majors with 13 walk-off wins at home, sending Wrigley Field into a frenzy.
It never materialized when it mattered most.
The Cubs clinched a playoff spot, but sputtered in the final week of the season when they lost their grip on the top NL Wild Card spot. That allowed San Diego to usurp the Cubs, and host the Wild Card. The homefield advantage was put to good use by the Padres.
The Cubs were a team that thrived when they caught lightning in a bottle and used it against opposing teams.
The biggest issues were how the Cubs struggled to find that magic at key points of the season. It didn't help players in the Cubs' lineup like Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson and Hoerner all regressed offensiveliy in 2026 compared to 2025.
They couldn't find that magic to close the gap with the Brewers in the NL Central, couldn't find that magic to retain the NL Wild Card homefield advantage or find that magic in the NL Wild Card round.