Good morning,
From the first three pitches Michael King threw to the first pitch Fernando Tatis Jr. saw to the last pitch Joe Musgrove threw to the pitches Mason Miller and Adrian Morejón didn’t have to throw, it is difficult to imagine Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series going any better than it did for the Padres last night.
King struck out Cubs leadoff hitter Pete Crow-Armstrong, the presumptive NL Most Valuable Player, with his fastest pitch in three years. Tatis gave the Padres the lead for good when he led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. Musgrove ended the 8-0 victory and his first major league game in two years with a strikeout.
“We scored early, got a lot of momentum going on, especially home runs from two of our biggest players, and then we were able to add on a lot of the innings,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Then the big three runs in the fifth with two outs kind of gave us a cushion we felt comfortable with. Michael pitched a great game … and we were able to save Mason, Adrian a little bit and then finish with Joe. We couldn’t write it up any better.”
You can read my game story (here) for the nuts and bolts of how the Padres added to the 2-0 lead Tatis and Manny Machado gave them in the first and how King took a no-hitter into the seventh.
“We couldn’t script it any better,” Tatis said. “I feel like what happened tonight … was a beautiful baseball night over here for every San Diegan.”
Welcoming back Joe
Musgrove entering the game to a thunderous ovation and getting the final three outs to prompt another massive cheer was a bonus event when considering the Padres won a playoff game last night.
But it was a bonus no one involved will forget.
“That was maybe my favorite moment of the year so far,” Jason Adam said. “I mean, honestly. Injuries are hard for anyone, but a guy that cares so much about the team, works harder than anybody I’ve ever played with, to get to see him go back out there. I can’t fathom the adrenaline rush he had. Because just coming back off injury in a regular game is awesome. So to do that in that moment, shut the door down. I mean, electric. I was so happy for him.”
It was a sentiment teammates echoed again and again after Musgrove left the bases loaded, finished the game with a strikeout and a fist-pumping yell and then got hugs all up and down the handshake line.
Padres fans go NUTS as Joe Musgrove enters a game for the first time since October 2, 2024. pic.twitter.com/9Kb65HA9tD
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 30, 2026
“I was emotional out there,” King said. “I never go back out to the field after I’m done pitching, but as soon as I saw him warming up, I had to go back out there to watch it. He means so much to this team and this city. To see the grind of rehab that he’s had to go through for two straight years, I mean, it was awesome. To then get out of a bases-loaded jam, that’s the big-game Joe we all know and love. I fully expect him to keep going throughout this postseason.”
A clearly affected Musgrove could hardly articulate what the night meant to him after two years of working to get back after his October 2024 Tommy John surgery and flexor tendon repair.
“I still can’t really put it together,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been out of the bullpen, so managing the nerves and the energy of the stadium is different for me. But I was so excited to get back on the mound. I mean, I felt at home out there. Obviously, a little bit of nerves coming in, but felt great. … It was amazing, man. I’m sure coming back in any scenario would feel good, but to come back in a playoff situation with the crowd the way they were tonight at home, yeah, that’s perfect.”
“I’ve been through a lot of headaches and a lot of negative thoughts over the last-year-and-a-half, and a lot of it’s self-inflicted. I get into these ruts of just feeling like I’m letting people down and I’m not holding up my end of the deal. But the work and the effort I’m putting in is really all I can control. So, to have the welcome back that I got tonight is really special.”
Even before he got to the bullpen steps, the fans in left field rose and began to cheer. Quickly, like a wave, the cheers rolled around the ballpark and then crashed onto Musgrove as he emerged from the door in the outfield wall before the top of the ninth inning.
Musgrove called it “humbling,” which Jeff Sanders wrote about (here) in his notebook from last night.
Musgrove had first begun to warm up in the middle of the eighth inning after Yuki Matsui retired the Cubs in order to preserve the eight-run lead.
“I had a specific run total in mind or deficit — I guess lead, in our way of looking at it — that I felt comfortable bringing Joe in,” Stammen said. “That met the criteria today. Just kind of felt right to bring him in in that moment. I trust him probably more than most, just because I’ve seen the best of Joe and believe that the best is still in there, the best is yet to come. Today was the first step for that.”
Stammen noted before the game, when discussing Musgrove having been included on the Padres roster for this series, that there were no “soft landings” in the postseason. But an eight-run lead in the ninth inning qualifies as one.
“It’s a pretty soft landing right there,” Musgrove acknowledged. “It’s the most nervous I’ve been with an eight-run lead before, but yeah, I mean, it’s a great opportunity. I’m extremely grateful for these guys for giving me the opportunity, putting up the runs we did.”
A special return for Joe Musgrove 🥹 pic.twitter.com/8AYMTStUSC
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2026
The key for Musgrove now — as it has been in the latter stages of his comeback — is how well he recovers. But he has worked back to the point where he is confident he will bounce back strong.
“Hopefully, I’ll show myself over the course of the postseason,” he said. “Maybe earn some higher-leverage roles, but I just want to be a part of it, man. I’ll throw a 15-0 deficit or 15-0 lead, so I’ll take the ball in any situation.”
Musgrove spoke over the weekend about the dual focus of his comeback, as he also eyes the fact he has one more season on his five-year, $100 million contract.
“I owe this organization a lot of work over the next year,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m healthy and able to go and pitch as much as I can for the rest of this contract.”
Easing in
Another benefit of the blowout was that it allowed Stammen to essentially cruise through his first postseason game as a manager.
There just really were not any crucial in-game decisions that had to be made.
If there was one sign Stammen was on top of things it was that he had his bullpen churning. He clearly was leaving no chance a pitcher would be left in too long.
Multiple relievers were starting to move around in the sixth inning. Morejón started to throw in the seventh after King gave up his only hit. Bradgley Rodriguez was throwing when Matsui began the eighth. Morejón joined him briefly. Miller started to stretch in the eighth and began to throw as Musgrove got in trouble.
“In my mind, it was better to be safe than sorry,” Stammen said. “Back of my head, like a rookie manager freaking out a little bit. I just wanted to be prepared. The rest of the group behind me helped me get prepared for the game and for the Cubs, and it worked out well today.”
King of the playoffs
King has made three postseason starts. Two of them are among the best in Padres history.
“I always felt like, even throughout Little League, when I had some adrenaline, they were my better games,” he said last night. “I know I said it the other day, Tom Brady’s line of, if you can execute under pressure, you’re going to be a great player. So I always wanted to execute under pressure. With the crowd going nuts up against a team that is first in runs scored in baseball, obviously postseason baseball, I know it’s not win or go home yet, but most every game you feel like it’s win or go home. So that pressure, that adrenaline definitely makes me lock in a little bit more.”
It seemed from the start last night that it did not matter the cushion he had or who he was facing, King was going to roll.
“When he’s clicking it and touching 98 (mph) the first inning, you know he’s got something a little extra and the adrenaline is working for him,” Stammen said. “You want your best players to be at their best when the best are required. Michael has done that over and over and over again. He’s done it in the playoffs, and he did it again tonight.”
King’s sweeper was generally as devious as it has been all year. He established his sinker (one of his two best pitches) early and did not use his changeup (his other best pitch).
“A lot of the (Cubs’) lefties don’t have much swing-and-miss to the change-up,” he said. “Also, five righties in the lineup is the most I’ve had all year. I think I threw two to righties, and a lot of the lefties even had holes to spin.It was really pitching to the scouting report.”
King also didn’t like what his changeup was doing early and didn’t want to get beat with what he called his “fourth- or fifth-best pitch.” He did find the changeup later and ended up punctuating the final two of his eight strikeouts with the pitch.
“He just did what he normally does, just probably executed a little bit better,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The stuff was a little bit up tonight, which we expected. We completely expected that in this atmosphere. We didn’t have a lot of good contact. Nico (Hoerner) hit a ball hard, Ian (Happ) hit a ball hard. Other than that, we didn’t square many balls up, and that’s a sign of a pitcher making a lot of good pitches and controlling counts.”
King would be lined up to pitch Game 2 of the NL Division Series on Sunday in Milwaukee if the Padres advance. He knows one thing that will be working in his favor if that start transpires.
“Adrenaline is a crazy drug,” he said. “And I’m looking forward to it for the next five weeks.”
How in the world?
Tatis hit a changeup for a home run on the first pitch Cubs starter Matthew Boyd threw.
A changeup!
It was just the 10th time since 2017 that anyone had hit a first-pitch home run leading off the first inning against a changeup. (That is out of 568 homers on the first pitch of the first inning in that span in the regular and postseason.)
FERNANDO TATIS JR. LEADOFF HOMER pic.twitter.com/DhXlJY9pH1
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 30, 2026
And while Boyd throws his changeup a fair amount, he had not thrown it on his first pitch in a game in 60 starts leading up to last night.
“I did not,” Tatis said when asked if he was looking for a changeup. “Especially first pitch of the game, that would be really odd. … We were ready to attack in the strike zone, and he left me a good pitch right there, and the rest is history.”
The home run was not the most impressive thing Tatis did last night.
Not even close.
After reaching base on an infield single in the seventh inning, Tatis stole second base. And when the throw from Cubs catcher Carson Kelly caromed off the bag and then Tatis’ foot and bounced into left field, Tatis took off for third and never slowed until he had slid headfirst across the plate well in front of the throw home.
Before getting up, Tatis sat on his knees and screamed.
“I was screaming, ‘I’m going to pass out,’” Tatis said with a laugh. “Just because all the energy and what was going on while it was happening.”
Fernando Tatis Jr. is just having a blast out there 🏃♂️pic.twitter.com/rVXOb4UWXt
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 30, 2026
“I don’t know how many guys in the league can score on that one,” King said.
“He’s an energizer,” Stammen said. “He can get this crowd going in a frenzy. He did that with the leadoff home run. He did that with stealing second, third, and home in one play. He just can do so much on the field that can get the team going, the fans going, our city going.”
When Counsell was asked about the difference in the Padres’ lineup this year compared to last year’s wild-card series, he said, “We did a good job with Tatis last year. We did not do a good job today, and it starts with that.”
The Cubs had been the only team to tame Tatis in the postseason.
And he was not happy about it.
I asked him in the spring how much he thought during the offseason about going 1-for-12 in last year’s NL Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field and especially his three strikeouts in Game 3.
“A lot,” he said. “Everybody knows what I’m capable of doing in October. And having that type of performance is definitely not me. It’s definitely not my best game. And those are definitely motivations that you carry into the offseason, and you just get better.”
Tatis finished 2-for 3 with a home run, three runs scored, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base last night. His 1.178 OPS is the ninth-highest ever over the first 17 postseason games in a career.
Just one
The Cubs’ only hit against King came when Nico Hoerner chopped a ball at 67 mph down the third base line and then ran a blazing 28.7 feet per second to first base.
It would have taken a perfect transfer and throw by one of the few third baseman alive who could have made such a play to keep King’s no-hitter going.
“I thanked him for the effort,” King said. “I mean, Hoerner is a burner, so I don’t think he would have had a shot anyways.”
Nico Hoerner breaks up Michael King’s no hit bid in the 7th for the Cubs#padres #postseason pic.twitter.com/Gij6HdA8zj
— Padres Central (@PadresCentral_) September 30, 2026
Still, Machado slammed the ball to the ground after being unable to make the play.
“I was pissed,” he said. “I knew what was on the line.”
He had fielded the ball and had it come out of his hand on the transfer, which he was rushing because it was his only chance.
“It was a change-up, one of the fastest guys in the league out in front,” Machado said. “I knew I didn’t have a play instantly, so I was just trying to rush and kind of plant my foot and give it my best shot over there. I didn’t even think I would have got him anyways, but got to give it a shot.”
King acknowledged he had the no-hitter on his mind. But he also shrugged.
“Good hitter, got to a good pitch,” he said. “There were also probably four other balls that were hit pretty hard that we were defensively placed pretty well. Tati made a really good play on a ball. Croney made a really good play on a ball.”
King was the first Padres player and the 23rd player in MLB history to take a no-hitter into the seventh inning of a postseason game.
Thank Yu
Yu Darvish pitched as well as he could for as long as he could in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field last year, and then a little less than four weeks later had an internal brace procedure to repair his right UCL.
He did not pitch for the Padres this season.
But he is the reason King did.
The Padres only had the money to sign King because of Darvish’s noble gesture of not taking his $15 million salary this season.
King knows only vaguely of how Darvish’s unique altruism played into his remaining in San Diego. He signed a three-year, $75 million contract that guarantees him $14 million for one year and allows him the opportunity to opt out after this season. (The 31-year-old right-hander would make $28 million next season and $30 million in 2029 if he remains with the Padres, but industry sources expect he will opt out in pursuit of a longer, more lucrative contract.)
What King and other pitchers value is the mere fact Darvish, who is on the restricted list and has not officially decided what to do about the remaining two years on his contract, is still around and available for discussion.
“I stay in direct contact with him about a lot of things,” King said. “He still serves as a massive benefit in this locker room. He still watches a lot of games. It is really cool to still have him as a sounding board.”
Next up
Nick Pivetta will start Game 2 tonight with the hope the Padres are popping bottles after his second consecutive start.
(He will know beforehand that the Padres can clinch, unlike his start last week at Dodger Stadium.)
The Padres have won all four of Pivetta’s starts since he returned from five months on the injured list while he rehabilitated an elbow flexor strain. And they would be thrilled with him duplicating any one of the four.
Pivetta has been remarkably efficient, owing to uncanny command for a pitcher who had so much time off.
He has thrown strikes 67% of the time, which matches his first pitch strike rate. Both are better than the MLB average and better than Pivetta’s rates last season.
Pivetta has thrown more than 16 pitches in just eight of his 18 full innings. He is getting a 31% chase rate.
He will be challenged tonight, as the Cubs face more pitches per plate appearance than all but three teams and chase less than all but three teams.
Roster choices
The Padres went with 11 pitchers and 15 position players for this series.
They had 12 active pitchers for each of their previous two wild-card appearances.
This was essentially a product of wanting to have three catchers and keep the outfielders who were part of the Padres’ September surge while also having Miguel Andujar active.
“It was some really tough conversations, some good conversations overall, and I think a testament to the depth and the players that have contributed to us here this year,” Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. “We have a bullpen we feel like is deep and some different weapons for Craig. … There are a lot of different possibilities, because of the way a lot of these guys have played here the last couple weeks.”
Jeff Sanders posted a story (here) yesterday morning about the roster.
Tidbits
Since this is the first time the Padres have made the playoffs in three consecutive years, Jackson Merrill last night became the first Padres player to make the postseason in his first three seasons. He was 2-for-4 with a two-run single and is now batting .297 with a .952 OPS in the playoffs. That is the third-highest OPS ever through a player’s first 11 postseason games with the Padres. (Tatis ranks first at 1.506 and Greg Vaughn second at .956.)
The only player in MLB history besides Musgrove to have appeared in a postseason game after not appearing in any of the previous two regular seasons was Cubs catcher Clyde McCullough, who struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 1945 World Series after missing 1944 and ‘45 while serving in the Navy during World War II. McCullough went on to coach in the major leagues, including on manager Dick Williams’ staff with the Padres in 1982.
This is the third time the Padres and Cubs have met in a playoff series. It is the second time that the home team’s leadoff and No.3 batters homered in the first inning of Game 1. In the 1984 NL Championship Series at Wrigley Field, Bob Dernier and Gary Matthews got the Cubs on their way to a 13-0 victory.
The Padres, of course, went on to win that NLCS. Kirk Kenney caught up (here) with some folks at last night’s game wearing the “Cubs Busters” T-shirts from that year.
Last night was the sixth postseason game in which Tatis reached base at least three times. That is most in Padres history and twice as many as the four players (Jake Cronenworth, Tony Gwynn, Machado and Jurickson Profar) tied for second.
Tatis and the Astros’ Jose Altuve (in 2023) are the only players in MLB history to homer on the first pitch of their team’s first postseason game.
Xander Bogaerts was 2-for-4 with a home run last night. He went 4-for-12 with a double in last year’s NL Wild Card Series.
Tatis, Merrill and Ty France are the first Padres trio ever to all have an OPS of at least .900 after the All-Star break (minimum 250 plate appearances.) They are half of the six players in this series that ranked in the National League’s top 10 offensive producers since the All-Star break. Here is a look at their numbers in the second half and what they did last night:
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.