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    Cubs-Padres Game Three Thread: Sudden Death Baseball

    It all comes down to this. The Cubs and Padres square off to determine who has the right to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.
    Brandon Glick

    By Brandon Glick

    Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

    Cubs Video

    Padres pitching dominated Cubs hitters on Wednesday, forcing a winner-take-all Game 3 in Chicago. The starters are right-handers Jameson Taillon for Chicago and Yu Darvish for San Diego. In 2025, Taillon posted a 3.68 ERA, and Darvish a 5.38 as an injury-plagued season limited him to only 15 starts. Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) tells a different story, though; Taillon has a 2025 FIP of 5.00, and Darvish has a 4.83 FIP. This game is unlikely to become a pitcher's duel, at least until both teams reach into their respective bullpens.

    Cubs Bullpen Usage
    Game 1 (Tuesday), Chicago’s relief corps delivered 4 2/3 perfect innings behind starter Matthew Boyd. The sequence was Daniel Palencia for 1 2/3, then Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge, and Brad Keller covering the final three innings. In Game 2 (Wednesday), the Cubs used an opener approach. Andrew Kittredge handled the 1st, followed by Shota Imanaga for bulk innings. After that, lefty Caleb Thielbar, righty Colin Rea, and lefty Taylor Rogers finished it off; their batters faced were Kittredge 5, Imanaga 17, Thielbar 4, Rea 6, Rogers 3.  Kittredge is the only Cubs pitcher to appear in both games so far, and he is likely out for Thursday's game as a result. 

    Padres Bullpen Usage
    Game 1, San Diego followed starter Nick Pivetta with Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller, and Jeremiah Estrada. In Game 2, Dylan Cease started and worked 3 2/3. Adrian Morejon covered 2 1/3 innings and threw 33 pitches, Mason Miller struck out the first five batters he faced and threw 27 pitches, and Robert Suarez recorded a four-out save to close a 3-0 win. It's likely that both Morejon and Miller will be unavailable for Thursday's game, but given the nature of the situation, it might be all hands on deck for Mike Shildt.

    Padres Batters Vs Jameson Taillon

    Jameson Taillon vs. San Diego Padres: Current Batters Table
    Rk Player B PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GIDP
    1 Xander Bogaerts R 28 28 6 3 0 0 2 0 5 .214 .214 .321 .536 0 0 0 0 1
    2 Ryan O'Hearn L 17 16 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .188 .235 .188 .423 0 0 0 0 1
    3 Martín Maldonado R 16 14 4 1 0 1 1 1 2 .286 .375 .571 .946 0 0 1 1 1
    4 Luis Arráez L 13 13 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .231 .231 .231 .462 0 0 0 0 0
    5 Jose Iglesias R 13 13 7 2 0 1 3 0 1 .538 .538 .923 1.462 0 0 0 0 0
    6 Gavin Sheets L 11 10 3 1 0 0 0 1 3 .300 .364 .400 .764 0 0 0 0 0
    7 Fernando Tatis Jr. R 6 6 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 .333 .333 .833 1.167 0 0 0 0 0
    8 Manny Machado R 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .200 .000 .200 0 0 0 0 0
    9 Jake Cronenworth L 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    10 Freddy Fermin R 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
    Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
    Generated 10/2/2025.

    Cubs Batters Vs Yu Darvish

    Yu Darvish vs. Chicago Cubs: Current Batters Table
    Rk Player B PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GIDP
    1 Justin Turner R 27 24 5 1 0 1 1 3 10 .208 .296 .375 .671 0 0 0 0 0
    2 Dansby Swanson R 22 19 3 1 0 0 1 3 6 .158 .273 .211 .483 0 0 1 0 0
    3 Ian Happ B 14 13 2 0 0 0 2 1 6 .154 .214 .154 .368 0 0 0 0 0
    4 Nico Hoerner R 11 10 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 .200 .273 .400 .673 0 0 0 0 0
    5 Carson Kelly R 10 10 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .300 .300 .300 .600 0 0 0 0 0
    6 Kyle Tucker L 6 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .167 .333 0 0 0 0 0
    7 Seiya Suzuki R 5 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 .250 .400 .500 .900 0 0 0 0 0
    8 Michael Busch L 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    9 Pete Crow-Armstrong L 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
    Generated 10/2/2025.

    Writer | Director | Author

    Short Film: Path of Two Minds
    Novel: The Great, Horrible Tragedy

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    Featured Comments

    TarzanJoeWallis

    TarzanJoeWallis 50

    Posted

    18 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

    Join us for live reactions! Hell yes.

    Jason, I have always assumed you were older!

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Assad in Game 1? Luckily the multi inning guys barely pitched in this series. I believe Soroka threw 6 pitches and Rea threw 15

    Jason Ross

    Jason Ross 2,541

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, TarzanJoeWallis said:

    Jason, I have always assumed you were older!

    38! I just have a baby face. The light hides all my gray haha

    • Haha 2
    TarzanJoeWallis

    TarzanJoeWallis 50

    Posted

    1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

    Assad in Game 1? Luckily the multi inning guys barely pitched in this series. I believe Soroka threw 6 pitches and Rea threw 15

    I’d go with Rea. 

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    We won the series and we haven’t even had our one game a week where we’re allowed to score more than 4 runs. 

    • Haha 1
    Max Power

    Max Power 43

    Posted

    They’re doing the silly off day between games thing. In a dome. Just start the series on Sunday then.

    chibears55

    chibears55 804

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

    It’s a 5 game series

    Yea, looked it up, thought they went to 7 after this for whatever reason. 

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Just now, TarzanJoeWallis said:

    I’d go with Rea. 

    I guess you can consider Rea’s pitching on Wednesday his throwing day

    Stratos

    Stratos 503

    Posted

    Cubs post-game stuff on MLB Network.

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Happ looks hammered already

    Tangled Up in Plaid

    Tangled Up in Plaid 411

    Posted

    Just now, TarzanJoeWallis said:

    I’d go with Rea. 

    Rea piggybacked with Soroka is probably our best option unfortunately 

    Caesar

    Caesar 10

    Posted

    The Cub will best the Brewer! So let it be written so so it be done!!!!!!!

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Max Power said:

    They’re doing the silly off day between games thing. In a dome. Just start the series on Sunday then.

    They want all 4 division series starting on the same day so they can have a quadruple header. I guess the NL gets the day off between games this year. Works for me to give our arms a rest

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    little late But this can’t not be posted after that finish
     

    image.gif.8db0bcc10b35fbb00006ff7e6a446e94.gif

    • Like 1
    • Love 4
    chibears55

    chibears55 804

    Posted

    1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

    They want all 4 division series starting on the same day so they can have a quadruple header. I guess the NL gets the day off between games this year. Works for me to give our arms a rest

    Would help the Cubs big time, especially if they steal Game 1 and then they're able to rest the pen again the next day and give Boyd and Imanaga an extra day rest 

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted (edited)

    I say between NSBB and BrewerFanatic, the loser of the series has to shut down. As long as it’s the Brewers that lose

    Edited by UMFan83
    • Haha 2
    • Love 1
    abuck1220

    abuck1220 207

    Posted

    what kind of odds could you have gotten on palencia getting two Ws in the WC round a month ago when it looked like his arm exploded.?

    • Like 1
    Bertz

    Bertz 2,652

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

    Rea piggybacked with Soroka is probably our best option unfortunately 

    Yeah I think you try and go Rea for 3ish, Soroka for 2, if you're ahead go to the short relievers and if you're behind go to Assad/Civale

    Irrelevant Dude

    Irrelevant Dude 1,546

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

    I cannot believe that such a horrible call was made in such an important spot. Obviously happy to take advantage of it but it still rubs me the wrong way. Can’t wait for ABS

    I still think Nico was safe at home, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over a bad strike call.

    • Like 1
    CUBDOM4life

    CUBDOM4life 98

    Posted

    Cubs own the brewers. They take this series at wrigley in 4 easy

    s2obed

    s2obed 80

    Posted

    Enjoying the dub but they were 1-7 with RISP tonight. This has to change against the Brewers. Should’ve had at least 6 runs tonight.

    Stratos

    Stratos 503

    Posted

    I'm watching Machado sulk like a little biatch right now.  Not sure there's 2 active players I dislike more than Tatis and Machado.  Except for the entire Milwaukee Brewers roster lol.

    CUBDOM4life

    CUBDOM4life 98

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

    I cannot believe that such a horrible call was made in such an important spot. Obviously happy to take advantage of it but it still rubs me the wrong way. Can’t wait for ABS

    One of a whole bunch, so I’ll gladly allow it too

    gflore34

    gflore34 966

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

    I still think Nico was safe at home, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over a bad strike call.

    Yeah, how many times have our Cubs been horsefeathered over by bad calls?  Pendulum has to swing the other way once in a while.



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