The Cubs and Padres meet beginning Tuesday at Wrigley Field in a Wild Card series.
It’s been 167 days since these teams last faced each other. All six regular-season games between the Cubs and Padres this
year were played in April, the last on April 16 — so it’s been a while. Here are some details of the six games, which the teams split 3-3.
April 4: Cubs 3, Padres 1
This was the Cubs’ home opener after they lost a pair to the Dodgers in Tokyo, then split a pair with the Diamondbacks in Phoenix and swept the A’s in Sacramento.
The Cubs’ runs scored on a bases-loaded walk to Nico Hoerner in the first and a Justin Turner RBI single followed by a Dansby Swanson fielder’s choice in the fifth.
Shōta Imanaga threw 7.1 innings and allowed one run, and it will likely not surprise you to recall that was a solo homer. It was hit by Martin Maldonado, who was released by the Padres in August.
Ryan Pressly threw a scoreless ninth — albeit with two baserunners allowed — for the save.
April 5: Cubs 7, Padres 1
Swanson and Carson Kelly homered to lead the offense. Kelly’s three-run blast in the sixth put the game out of reach [VIDEO].
Kelly’s four-RBI day capped a week in which he batted .500/.632/1.250 (6-for-12) with 10 RBI, and of course, his cycle against the A’s.
With the Cubs leading 7-0 in the seventh, Ian Happ flashed some glove [VIDEO].
April 6: Padres 8, Cubs 7
The Padres scored three off Ben Brown in the top of the first, but the Cubs came back with five runs in the bottom of the frame, with two runs scoring on balks by Padres left-hander Kyle Hart.
Kyle Tucker’s two-run homer in the second gave the Cubs a 7-3 lead, but Cubs relievers could not hold that lead. The Padres scored two more off Brown and one each off Caleb Thielbar and Julian Merryweather to send the game to the ninth tied 7-7.
Justin Turner, who played first base that afternoon, dropped a double-play relay that would have ended the inning with the game tied. Instead, Fernando Tatis Jr. scored the lead run [VIDEO].
The Cubs went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth, ending a five-game winning streak which was their longest of 2025.
April 14: Padres 10, Cubs 4
Tatis homered off Jameson Taillon in the third to put the Padres up 1-0, but the Cubs took a 3-1 lead in the fourth on a two-run homer by Michael Busch and RBI double from Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The Padres came back to tie the game in the sixth off Brad Keller, but Nate Pearson and Eli Morgan got absolutely pounded by Padres hitters in the seventh and eighth, with three runs off Pearson and four off Morgan, who served up homers to Tatis and Luis Arráez. Morgan went on the IL after that game with a right elbow impingement and missed the rest of the regular season.
April 15: Cubs 2, Padres 1, 10 innings
Another home run off Imanaga, this one by Manny Machado in the fifth, gave San Diego a 1-0 lead. The Cubs matched that run in the sixth on this perfectly-executed squeeze bunt by PCA [VIDEO].
Swanson was the placed runner in the 10th and he scored on this triple by Nico [VIDEO].
Thielbar set the Padres down 1-2-3, despite a steal of third by the placed runner Jose Iglesias, to nail down the win.
April 16: Padres 4, Cubs 2
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead on a sac fly by Tucker in the third, but a pair of RBI singles by Tatis and Machado off Matthew Boyd put San Diego up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.
Machado’s RBI double off Daniel Palencia in the seventh made it 3-1 San Diego, but this PCA homer brought the Cubs back to within one [VIDEO].
Luke Little threw the eighth. He walked the bases loaded but managed to squeeze two outs among all those walks. Then Little walked Tatis to force in the Padres’ fourth run. Little was returned to Triple-A Iowa after that game and, apart from one more Cubs appearance in August vs. the Brewers in the first game of the doubleheader Aug. 18, spent the rest of the year in the minors.
The series was all even for the year not only in wins at three each, but in runs: Both teams scored 25 runs over the six games.
Something’s gotta give this week.
