Joe Musgrove is back on the Padres’ Wild Card roster, and that alone turns San Diego’s postseason setup into something a lot more interesting.
The Padres released their 26-man group on Tuesday ahead of their Wild Card series against the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park, and the biggest headline was Musgrove’s return from injury in a bullpen role. He hasn’t pitched since Game 2 of the Wild Card series in 2024, but he’s now back in the mix for San Diego.
Miguel Andujar also made the roster, adding another surprise to a list that already had a few. Andujar has been dealing with an injury and has played recently in Triple-A, but he hasn’t appeared in a major league game with the Padres since July 19.
The roster comes after San Diego clinched the No. 4 seed and secured a home first-round series, which naturally set off plenty of speculation about how the club would line things up. Tuesday’s answer brought some clear choices and a few notable omissions.
Among the pitchers, the Padres included Jason Adam, Yuki Matsui, David Morgan, Walker Buehler, Mason Miller, Musgrove, Michal King, Adrian Morejon, Nick Pivetta, Robbie Ray and Bradgley Rodriguez.
Behind the plate, San Diego went with Freddy Fermin, Luis Campusano and Ethan Salas.
The infield group features Andujar, Ty France, Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth and Gavin Sheets.
In the outfield, the Padres listed Jase Bowen, Jackson Merrill, Dustin Harris, Fernando Tatis Jr., Austin Hays and Samad Taylor.
A few names didn’t make the cut, including Randy Vasquez, Wandy Peralta and Sung-Mung Song. Vasquez had started the season finale on Sunday, which made his omission feel less and less likely as the roster picture came into focus.
Bowen was also a fringe possibility, but San Diego kept him because he can serve as a defensive replacement and a pinch-runner late in games, giving manager Craig Stammen another useful option to deploy.
Of all the moves, though, Musgrove stands out the most. If he gets into a game in this series, Petco Park is likely to make plenty of noise.
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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 🡒]