After an insanely fun and dominating first game, the San Diego Padres faced off again with a chance to sweep the team that ended their season last year

While it wasn’t quite the show of the first game, it was another dominating performance by the Friars, who were victorious 4-1.

The Padres went down in order in the first inning, but would not be held down in the second. Ty France started the inning with a double in the third-base foul line; Jackson Merrill advanced him on an infield single, then stole second. Then Xander Bogaerts singled to right field, bringing home France to get the scoring started while also advancing Merrill to third.

Xander Bogaerts brings home the first run of NL Wild Card Game 2! pic.twitter.com/7LRSHaqpr6

— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2026

Then Ethan Salas, in his first playoff at-bat, proved the moment wasn’t too big for the youngest catcher in postseason history, hitting a 104.5mph fly to Pete Crow Armstrong, bringing home Merrill for a 2-0 lead.

Nick Pivetta looked outstanding for his first two innings, getting three strikeouts and putting down six in order. In the third, he ran into some trouble after walking Matt Shaw and giving up a single to Carson Kelly before getting Dansby Swanson to strike out, going from 3-0 to the K. Pivetta then got PCA and Bregman to fly out to end the threat.

Unfortunately, Pivetta had similar struggles in the 4th; after getting Michael Busch to fly out, Pivetta gave up a single to Seiya Suzuki and walked Ian Happ. Pivetta was unable to dance out of danger this time as Nico Hoerner singled to centerfield to score Suzuki and give the Cubs their first run of the playoffs. That would end Nick Pivetta’s night at 3.1 innings with three hits, a run, two walks, and foustrikeoutsts on 66 pitches.

Craig Stammen would bring in rookie Bradgley Rodriguez in for his first playoff appearance, and he was amped up; Rodriguez got Shaw to strike out on three straight 96+mph fastballs, then hit Carson Kelly to load the bases for Dansby Swanson, who flew out on the first pitch to Jackson Merrill to yet again strand more Cubs runners. Rodriguez gave up a single walk in the 5th but got PCA and Bregman to fly out before punching out Suzuki on a 100mph fastball.

Kevin Gausman had a more successful evening than Matthew Boyd did last night, going 3.1 innings with 2 runs on 5 hits and a strikeout. However, he was hit hard often, even if they weren’t all successful. He was lifted in the bottom of the 4th after giving a one-out double to Bogaerts for lefty Daniel Palencia, who got Ethan Salas on a strikeout. Then Stammen called on Gavin Sheets to replace Austin Hays at DH to give a lefty-on-lefty matchup, and Sheets paid off the manager’s decision with a deep homer to right field on a 101mph fastball, giving the Padres a 4-1 lead.

GAVIN SHEETS SENDS ONE DEEP INTO THE NIGHT

HOLY SHEETS! 4-1 #PADRES over the Cubs#postseason pic.twitter.com/Q8ykfMwlnw

— Padres Central (@PadresCentral_) October 1, 2026

Gavin Sheets, playing with a torn plantar plate in his left foot, came off the bench to hit his first pinch-hit home run since Opening Day 2025. It's just the fourth pinch-hit homer in Padres postseason history.

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) October 1, 2026

Padres postseason pinch-hit HR's
– Jim Leyritz, 1998 NLDS G2
– Greg Myers, 1998 NLCS G5
– Eric Young Sr, 2005 NLDS G1
+ Gavin Sheets, 2026 NLWCS G2

— Diego Garcia (@StatNerd_Base) October 1, 2026

Things got heated as Palencia promptly hit Cronenworth in the back on a 3-0 count on a 100mph pitch, and while Tatis took the pitcher deep to center, it was about six feet too short as PCA caught it to end the inning. Palencia ended up going 1.2 innings with one earned run and a hit with two strikeouts.

The Padres sent newly returned Jason Adam to the mound in the 6th, who pitched an easy 1-2-3 inning in his first MLB  appearance since late June. David Peterson came on to pitch for the Cubs in the bottom of the 6th and also pitched a scoreless inning, working around an infield single by Jackson Merrill (though he was picked off on an attempted steal). Even Stammen’s lifting of Salas for pinch-hitter Miguel Andujar (another attempt to exploit a lefty-on-lefty matchup) was unable to work a second time.

For the final 9 outs, Stammen decided to use his two best arms between them. Adrian Morejon was sent out in the 7th and got an easy 1-2-3 on 14 pitches, including getting the soon-to-be MVP in Crow-Armstrong to fly out. Peterson replied with two quick outs before being replaced by Ryan Zeferjahn, who got Tatis to strike out to end the 7th.

Morejon was sent back out in the 8th and worked around a single to pinch hitter Tyronne Taylor to end the inning cleanly and get 6 outs on 30 pitches. Zeferjahn pitched a clean 8th inning, working around a single to France and a walk by Merrill.

In the 9th, Craig Stammen called upon the Reaper to close out the game and the series.

Enter The Reaper pic.twitter.com/WoXsPxplUp

— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) October 1, 2026

Mason Miller did what Mason Miller has done all season. He got Ian Happ to strike out and, despite giving up the Cubs’ only extra-base hit of the entire series to Nico Hoerner in the 9th, then struck out Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly to ground out. With that, the Padres ended a dominant series and advanced in the playoffs.

The Padres will face the NL Central champion and top seed, the Milwaukee Brewers, in the next round, with the first game taking place in the Midwest on Saturday, October 3rd at 5:30 pm PST.

Loren Casuto

A Native San Diegan, Loren has spent his entire life not only as a fan but an active participant in San Diego’s sports world. In 2006 Loren joined two other die hard Charger fans to create Bolttalk, where Loren was a co-host and regular columnist from 2006 until the Chargers left in 2017. After that he started another podcast, The Grid Podshow, from 2020-2021 with his former co-host and colleague, speaking about the local sports community and popular culture.

When he’s not giving his opinion about San Diego sports, Loren is an adjunct professor at San Diego State and an attorney.