The Chicago Cubs didn’t just lose their playoff series to the San Diego Padres. They posted a night so lifeless that it landed in the record book for all the wrong reasons.
After Game 1, Wednesday already felt like a slow walk toward the end. The Cubs never looked ready to solve the Padres’ bullpen, and that feeling only hardened from the first at-bat. By the time the final out was recorded, Chicago had turned in the single worst offensive performance in MLB history.
The early signs were ugly. Pete Crow-Armstrong challenged a strike three call that wasn’t even close.
Alex Bregman struck out after getting ahead 3-0. Michael Busch looked overmatched as Nick Pivetta kept dropping curveballs at the top of the strike zone.
The Cubs were clearly on their heels, and San Diego wasted no time pressing the issue.
The Padres jumped on Kevin Gausman in the second inning, then delivered the decisive blow in the fourth when Gavin Sheets launched a two-run home run off Daniel Palencia.
Pivetta lasted 3.1 innings, and then the bullpen took over and slammed the door. Bradgley Rodríguez, Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, and Mason Miller combined for 5.2 shutout innings, giving up only two hits, one walk, and a hit-by-pitch. That was the kind of clean, efficient relief work that made the Cubs’ night feel over almost as soon as it began.
Chicago never found any traction. The Cubs went 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and managed only eight hits across the two-game series.
That was the fewest hits by any team in a playoff series of at least two games in MLB history. They scored one run.
For a team that led MLB in runs, OPS, and total bases during the regular season, it was a brutal collapse. The Cubs finished with a .129/.229/.145 slash line, 19 strikeouts, seven walks, and the lowest slugging percentage in a multi-game playoff series in MLB history.
Nico Hoerner was the one bright spot. He went 4-for-8, including Chicago’s first hit of the series on Tuesday, a seventh-inning single against Michael King that ended a no-hit bid. Hoerner also doubled in the ninth inning Wednesday against Miller, and that was the Cubs’ only extra-base hit in the two games.
Seiya Suzuki had two hits in the series. Carson Kelly and Tyrone Taylor each had one. Everyone else in the lineup was held hitless.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman were supposed to be two of the team’s top bats this season, but they didn’t come through against San Diego. As Jim Deshaies said before Game 2, the Padres’ stars played like stars, and if the Cubs had any shot, their stars had to do the same. They didn’t.
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