Wednesday notes…
- BLANKETY-BLANK: Last night’s loss was the 12th time the Cubs have been shut out in 132 post-season games. One of them was the final game of a series. They were 7-3 in the next games of the other series, including 5-1 on the road. They won all three next games in which they were blanked on the road, then played the same team on the road in the next game. They beat the Dodgers, 10-2, after losing Game 3 of the 2016 Championship Series, 6-0. They beat the Indians, 5-1, after losing Game 1 of the 2016 World Series. Last year, the Cubs beat the Padres at home, 3-1, after losing Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, 3-0. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- GAME TWO, PART 1: In all post-season series, the Cubs are 10-17 in second games, but just 3-11 on the road. Two of the wins were the ones at St. Louis and Cleveland listed above. The third was in the 1906 World Series vs. the White Sox, 7-1. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- GAME TWO, PART 2: In the regular season this year, the Cubs were 14-12 in second games of series after losing first games. They were 8-6 after first-game losses on the road, including a win at San Diego on April 28.
- TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Thad Bosley singles in the tying run, then scores the winning run on a throwing error as the Cubs walk off the Cardinals 2-1 in the final regular-season game of the best Cubs season since 1945. It happened 42 years ago today, Sunday, Sept. 30, 1984.
Cubs lineup:
Padres lineup:
Kevin Gausman, RHP vs. Nick Pivetta, RHP
This is exactly why the Cubs traded for Kevin Gausman: His extensive postseason experience, which includes six appearances (five starts) and 30.2 innings in last year’s postseason for the Blue Jays in which he posted a 2.93 ERA. He’ll need to be that guy tonight.
As you know, Gausman has had some good outings as a Cub but overall has been somewhat of a disappointment. He
suffered a minor injury to his non-throwing shoulder in his last start, which was a week ago at Wrigley Field against the Marlins.
Gausman threw six innings and allowed three runs, striking out eight, against the Padres July 12 at Petco Park. A repeat of that might be good enough to force a Game 3.
Nick Pivetta missed almost the entire 2026 season with a right flexor strain. He was out from mid-April until early September, when he returned to make four starts in which he posted a 1.45 ERA and 0.911 WHIP, with just two walks in 18.2 innings.
He has not faced the Cubs this year. Current Cubs are batting .252 (27-for-107) against him with seven home runs, among those two each from Dansby Swanson and Michael Conforto.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, he has extreme reverse splits this year: .442 OPS vs. LHB, .704 OPS vs. RHB. Both are fairly small sample sizes (61 PA vs. RHB this year, 79 PA vs. LHB). For his career he’s about equal against both left-handed and right-handed batters.
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Here is the weather forecast for the area around Petco Park. If this game had been scheduled for Wrigley Field, it would likely have been rained out, as it’s been raining in Chicago pretty much all day and evening.
Today’s game is on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
MLB.com Gameday
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.
You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.
The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.
You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
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