Sat Sep 27 03:10:00 UTC 2025: ## Padres Eye Cubs Matchup as Regular Season Winds Down, Challenges Loom

**SAN DIEGO –** With their playoff berth secured, the San Diego Padres are shifting their focus to the upcoming National League Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs, set to begin on Tuesday. Despite stressing the importance of finishing the regular season strong against the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, the team acknowledges the looming challenge.

“We’ve got our mind on this series,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt on Friday. “And we also have some attention toward getting prepared for that series as well.”

The Cubs solidified their chances for home-field advantage in the series with a win over the Cardinals on Friday. The Padres and Cubs split their six regular-season games, all played in April.

“We’ve got a couple new guys in our lineup; they’ve got some new guys in their lineup,” said Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth. “It’s two quality teams, like you’d expect in the playoffs.”

Shildt added, “Clearly that’s a good team, had a great season. They’re very talented across the board — the pitching, the position players. They play defense, they do a lot of different things to win games… It’ll be a great series, I’m sure.”

However, the series presents several challenges for San Diego:

**1. Combatting the Lefties:** The Padres offense has historically performed better against right-handed pitching, and the loss of Ramón Laureano further weakens their lineup against lefties. The Cubs are expected to start left-handers Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, and boast several quality left-handed relievers. The Padres may need to adjust their lineup, potentially starting Jose Iglesias or Bryce Johnson against left-handed starters and reconfiguring the middle of their batting order to avoid stacking lefties.

**2. A Tricky Top of the Cubs Lineup:** The Cubs’ likely top four hitters of Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ, and Kyle Tucker present a difficult challenge for the Padres’ predominantly right-handed pitching staff. With Busch and Tucker being strong left-handed hitters and Happ being a switch-hitter who is better from the left side, the Padres will need to carefully manage their bullpen, potentially relying on Adrian Morejon or Mason Miller to face these batters.

**3. Setting the Rotation:** While the Padres have named Nick Pivetta as their Game 1 starter, the rest of the rotation remains undecided. Michael King, Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease, and Randy Vásquez are all options, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The Padres are expected to carry all five starters on their Wild Card Series roster, but will only have three starts to allocate at most.

The Padres are keenly aware of the hurdles ahead as they prepare to face the Cubs in what promises to be a highly competitive Wild Card Series.

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