The Chicago Cubs led the major leagues in runs scored, OPS and slugging percentage this season. Then they flew to San Diego for the National League Wild Card Series and scored one run in 18 innings. That is how an 89-win year ends inside 48 hours.
The Padres won Game 1 by 8-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 29 and finished the sweep 4-1 the following night at Petco Park. Chicago was outscored 12-1 across the series and collected eight hits total. No complicated autopsy is required.
The Stars Stopped Hitting
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman went a combined 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts over the two games. Crow-Armstrong had just become the first Cub and the seventh player in major league history to reach the 40-homer, 40-steal club. Bregman was the winter’s marquee addition. Neither of them put a ball in play that changed anything.
The decisive swing in Game 2 came off the bench. Gavin Sheets turned around a 100.8 mph fastball from Daniel Palencia for a pinch-hit two-run homer, the hardest pitch any Padre has ever homered on. Joe Musgrove and Michael King handled Game 1, Nick Pivetta started the clincher, and Chicago’s lineup never adjusted to either plan.
Jed Hoyer Knows Where This Went Wrong
The Cubs finished 89-73, second in the NL Central and 14 games behind Milwaukee, which left them as the No. 5 seed and sent them on the road. Hoyer traced the failure back past the playoffs. Chicago averaged 1.8 runs per game against Miami and Boston in the final week of the regular season and surrendered any shot at home field.
“It just feels like we let something slip away,” the Cubs’ president of baseball operations said. He also gave ownership credit for funding an aggressive roster push: “We believed in this group and we fell short.”
Craig Counsell was blunter about the two games themselves. “We just didn’t play well enough and they’re playing really well,” he said.
What Chicago Does Next
Pitching was the structural flaw all year. Cade Horton needed elbow surgery after two starts and Ben Brown missed time with a neck injury. The deadline additions of Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes delivered less than Hoyer wanted, and Gausman got hurt in the final week. A rotation that thin cannot survive a best-of-three even with the offense cooperating, and the offense quit.
Now the roster shrinks before it grows. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki are both headed for free agency, which would empty both corner outfield spots and remove the longest-tenured active player in the clubhouse. Happ did not hide what that felt like Wednesday night. “It’s emotional. It’s tough. That makes it hurt, makes it sting worse,” he said.
The repair job is obvious and expensive: multiple real starting pitchers, plus a decision on whether to pay to keep the outfield together. Hoyer has already proven ownership will spend when he asks. The 2026 Cubs proved that spending it all on bats buys you a two-game cameo in October.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.