The Padres are in the 2026 MLB playoffs again, and while San Diego gets ready for a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs, a familiar cast of ex-Friars is scattered across October rosters elsewhere.
Some of them are role players. Some are still high-leverage arms.
A few have been sidelined by injuries. But all of them are part of this postseason picture, and their 2026 production gives the ranking a pretty clear shape.
At the top sits the most surprising name on the list: Nick Martinez. After a rough 2025 with the Reds, he has bounced back in a big way with the Rays, who rode him to a 98-win season.
Martinez went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA, posted 16 quality starts and finished with a 1.094 WHIP. He is not going to win the Cy Young Award, but he will definitely get some votes.
Josh Hader checks in right behind him, and once he got past the bicep tendinitis that kept him out until June, he looked like himself again. Hader finished with a 1.01 ERA in 45 appearances, giving up only 19 hits in 44.2 innings. The Astros finished 81-81 and barely made the playoffs, but if they hand him a lead in the ninth, that’s still a pretty comfortable place to be.
Blake Snell comes next for the Dodgers. Health has been the issue since he joined Los Angeles in 2025, and he has made just 20 combined starts over the last two seasons, nine of them this year.
Still, those nine outings were excellent: a 1.90 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 42.2 innings. He is healthy now, which only adds to the Dodgers’ status as favorites.
David Bednar has been a steady late-inning weapon for the New Yankees, piling up 35 saves this season, tied for third-most in the American League, while also winning seven games. Luis Arraez rounds out the top five.
He split 2026 between the Giants and Phillies and hit .310, his sixth straight season above .300. Philadelphia announced Monday afternoon that he will not be on the roster for the Wild Card series against the Braves because of an ankle injury, though he could return if the Phillies advance.
Robert Suarez lands at No. 6 after an injury-interrupted season with the Braves. An elbow issue cost him three months, but before that he was dominant, carrying a 0.56 ERA in 32 innings.
He returned just before the end of the season and allowed two runs in two innings. If that pre-injury version shows up again, he becomes a major October factor.
Tanner Scott’s season was a strange one by any measure. He flashed closer stuff, saved 25 games, and also dropped six decisions that didn’t exactly win over Dodgers fans. He did finish strong, though, with five straight scoreless outings that included three saves and a hold.
Ryan Weathers was productive for the Yankees after arriving from the Marlins, working as a solid back-end starter. In 25 starts, he put up a 3.60 ERA and struck out 143. A forearm strain has kept him out since August 22, but there is still hope he can join New York at some point in October.
Trent Grisham’s year was defined more by the hamstring than the box score. He has not played since early September, though if he gets back on the field this postseason, there is no mystery about the kind of swing he can provide. After hitting 34 home runs in 2025 with the Bronx Bombers, he added 18 more this season in 121 games.
Colin Rea closes the list. His production dipped from last year, but he still gave his team useful innings in the back of the rotation and out of the bullpen. Rea won eight games, recorded six quality starts and logged 137 innings, which is plenty of value for a pitcher many playoff fans probably wouldn’t even spot right away.
In Other News...
Joe Musgrove Suddenly Gives Padres Real October Hope Again
Joe Musgrove has been on the shelf since Oct. 2, 2024, working back from Tommy John surgery and the kind of recovery setbacks that can drag a pitchers timeline well past the initial target. Even so, the right-hander is now talking like someone who can see a real finish line again, and for a Padres club that has spent plenty of time navigating uncertainty on the mound, that matters. He said he feels the healthiest he has in two years, a notable turn for a pitcher whose return has been defined more by patience than by certainty.
Musgrove is looking ahead to a 2026 postseason debut with San Diego, and hes even leaving open the possibility that his first October role could come out of the bullpen. It is not hard to understand why that kind of update lands with the Padres, who still want impact arms available when the games tighten up in a wild-card race. The bigger question now is not whether he wants that opportunity, but how quickly the rest of the comeback path can line up behind it. [Read more 🡒]
Craig Counsell's Game 1 Pitching Choice Says Everything About This Series
Craig Counsell has already signaled how seriously the Cubs are taking this Wild Card Series by turning to Matthew Boyd for Game 1 against the Padres. Boyd has filled a meaningful role for Chicago in recent postseason runs, and this move gives the Cubs a familiar arm to open a short series that figures to be managed with urgency from the first pitch. On the other side, San Diego is answering with right-hander Michael King, setting up a matchup that should immediately test how each club wants to shape the tone of the series.
Counsell also confirmed that Kevin Gausman will be part of the pitching plan at some point in the series, another hint that the Cubs are prepared to lean on experience and flexibility as they try to navigate a tightly packed October format. For the Padres, the larger question is less about the names on the schedule than how they handle a Cubs staff that seems ready to mix and match if the opener dictates it. In a series this short, the first decision often tells you how the rest will be played. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Face One Huge Pitching Decision Before Cubs Series
Craig Stammen is lining up the Padres pitching plan for the National League Wild Card series against the Cubs, and the biggest question is how he wants to deploy a staff built for a short burst rather than a long march. San Diego has four starting pitchers available, which gives the first-time manager some flexibility, but also forces an early call on how much weight to put on each arm in a three-game series.
The bullpen is part of the equation, too, with several relievers in the mix depending on game flow and who is available on a given night. For a team trying to survive a compact playoff set, the opening decisions can shape everything that follows, and Stammen now has to sort through the balance between covering innings, protecting matchups and keeping enough pitching in reserve for whatever the Cubs throw back. [Read more 🡒]