Worldwide Sports News

What a way to sweep the Red Sox out of the playoffs! The Yankees brushed aside their inferior opponents, winning the two games by a combined score of 18-2. Every facet of their game was clicking — plate discipline, slug, bat-to-ball, two-strike hitting, situational hitting, base running, defense, and of course, starting pitching. It’s a winning recipe that leaves them in good stead for the upcoming ALDS date with Tampa.

The Yankees weren’t the only team to eliminate their opponents from the postseason on Wednesday so let’s jump straight into the action!

AL Wild Card Series Game 2

Chicago White Sox 7, Houston Astros 3
(Chicago wins 2-0)

After just two games, I can’t think of any playoff participant who wants to face these White Sox. That is a sentence that no one could conceive of typing at the start of the season. Two seasons removed from suffering the most losses in MLB history and on the back of three straight losing campaigns, this upstart Chicago squad came out of nowhere to crash the postseason, starting with a two game sweep of the Astros in their own building.

They have done so by scoring early and often, the White Sox lineup a deep unit one-thru-nine with multiple ways to hurt you. They work deep counts, foul pitches off, draw walks, and can put the ball in play, but can also slug the ball out of the yard from almost any spot in the batting order. On Tuesday, they scored three unanswered runs in the first two innings to put the Astros on the back foot from the word go, and Wednesday continued the trend with the Southsiders hanging a four-spot before the home team had a chance to bat.

They had a 1-0 lead just five pitches into the game against Astros ace Hunter Brown, Sam Antonacci leading off with a double before Kyle Teel drove him home with a single. A fielding error by Nick Allen on a Miguel Vargas grounder put a pair on, and three straight singles by Andrew Benintendi, Tristan Peters, and Chase Meidroth plated three more runs with help from a Lucas Spence throwing error from center.

Credit to the Astros, they did not roll over after going down four in the first and slowly chipped into the White Sox lead. Jeremy Peña led off the bottom of the first with a booming home run that clattered off the left field wall just below the train tracks. Cam Smith hit one to almost exactly the same spot with two outs in the second. Jose Altuve narrowly snuck a solo shot into the Crawford Boxes to lead off the fourth and just like that, a 4-0 game had become a 4-3 thriller.

An inning later it looked like the Astros would pull of the improbable and complete the comeback. Smith was hit by a pitch, Peña singled, and Isaac Paredes walked to load the bases with two outs for Altuve. However, reliever Anthony Kay got Altuve to fly out to medium right field to strand all three ducks on the pond. That left the door open for the White Sox to swing the momentum back in their own favor and they did so immediately. Benintendi and Peters drew a pair of walks to open the sixth, prompting Joe Espada to call on Bryan Abreu out of the bullpen. Astros owner Jim Crane vetoed a trade of Abreu to the Twins in the final minutes of the deadline, and Abreu rewarded that faith by hanging a 3-1 slider to Meidroth, the second baseman crushing a three-run bomb to left to put the final nail in the Astros’ coffin.

After sweeping this rematch of the 2005 World Series, the White Sox advance to the ALDS where they will face the AL Central champion Guardians, first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.

NL Wild Card Series Game 2

Philadelphia Phillies 4, Atlanta Braves 3
(Series tied 1-1)

The Phillies’ season was hanging by a thread until some late heroics by Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm sent this thrilling series to a decisive Game 3. It was a pitchers’ duel early between two starters trending in opposite directions. Tyler Mahle entered his first career playoff start with a sub-two ERA after joining the Braves from the Giants at the deadline while Cristopher Sánchez posted an ERA above five in the month of September (though will still likely wrap up his second straight runner-up finish in NL Cy Young balloting).

The one thing the two starters do have in common is first inning struggles and that certainly played out in this game. Mahle allowed a leadoff double to Trea Turner and consecutive one-out singles by Bryce Harper and Alex Bohm to allow the Phillies to jump ahead, 1-0. However, Sánchez issued a leadoff walk to Ronald Acuña Jr., who promptly stole second and scored the tying run on a Matt Olson single.

Both starters settled in from there, trading zeroes for the next five innings, until things unraveled for Sánchez and his defense in the seventh. Sean Murphy worked a leadoff walk and Ha-Seong Kim reached on a bunt single to put a pair on with no outs. Drake Baldwin then clubbed what looked like a routine liner to right, but Harper misplayed it horrifically breaking in on the ball only to watch it sail over his glove and to the wall for what was ruled as an RBI double. Sánchez intentionally walked Ozzie Albies to load the bases, and Olson made him pay with a sac fly to double the Braves lead, 3-1.

What should have been a hammer blow to the Phillies morale did not play out as such. Schwarber immediately responded with a towering leadoff shot off lefty reliever Dylan Lee, and Harper atoned for his misplay by going back-to-back to retie the game, 3-3. That sent this game to extra innings, where the much-maligned Alec Bohm continued his redemption tour. Bohm was on the bubble of being non-tendered during the offseason, but the Phillies kept him around and drove in the first run of the series with an RBI double in the first inning of Game 1. The third baseman was the ultimate hero in this one, his opposite field solo homer off rookie Didier Fuentes in the 10th to keep the Phillies season alive and force a decisive Game 3.

San Diego Padres 4, Chicago Cubs 1
(San Diego wins 2-0)

This game featured surprisingly quick hooks of both starters as neither manager wanted to risk leaving their highest leverage relievers unused. One was certainly more deserved than the other, Kevin Gausman allowing three runs on five hits in 3.1 innings. The Cubs were desperate for starting pitching at the Trade Deadline and Gausman was supposed to be their big prize. However, he flopped after making the move from the Blue Jays, pitching to a 4.83 ERA in nine starts post-deadline, and his stinker tonight was the beginning of the end of the Cubs’ season. Nick Pivetta on the other hand held Chicago to a run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings, but Craig Stammen seemed determined to play the matchups in this one.

Ty France got things started with a double to lead off the second, advancing to third on a Jackson Merrill single, who then stole second to put a pair in scoring position for Xander Bogaerts. The veteran shortstop opened the scoring with an RBI single, which brought Ethan Salas to the plate. The 20-year-old became the youngest catcher ever to appear in a playoff game, and in his first postseason PA, he lifted a sac fly to center to plate Merrill as the Padres’ second run.

The real story of this series has been the Cubs’ inability to score. They led MLB scoring 5.25 runs per game, spearheaded by shoo-in NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong and his MLB-leading 45 home runs (PCA would go 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series). They found themselves shut out through the first 12.1 innings of this series, finally breaking the seal in the fourth on a Seiya Suzuki single, Ian Happ walk, and Nico Hoerner RBI single. A Carson Kelly hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs, but Dansby Swanson flew out to stand all three in place.

San Diego immediately punished them for failing to fully cash in on that scoring opportunity. Bogaerts reached on a one-out double, prompting Craig Counsell to call on Daniel Palencia in relief of Gausman. Palencia yanked a 101 mph fastball right into Sheets’ nitro zone down and in, and the lefty crushed it to right for a mammoth two-run blast.

It was all hands on deck from there from the Padres bullpen looking to protect their lead for the final five innings of the contest. They proved how terrifying a relief corps they’ve been all season, allowing just three base runners — a Michael Busch walk with two outs in the fifth, a Tyrone Taylor pinch-hit single with one out in the eighth, and a Hoerner one-out double off Mason Miller in the ninth — after the Cubs stranded the bases loaded to end the fourth.

San Diego advances to the NLDS where they will face the best team in baseball. It’s an unenviable position to come up against presumptive NL Cy Young Jacob Misiorowski and the 103-win Brewers. Game 1 of that series is scheduled for October 3rd with first pitch time contingent upon the result of Game 3 between Philly and Atlanta.

What the Chicago White Sox have done in 2026 is why sports are so great. A perennial punching bag, and Major League Baseball’s biggest laughingstock a year ago has transformed into a baseball powerhouse, and on Wednesday night they proved it. The ChiSox cruised to a 7-3 win over the Astros in the AL Wild Card, clinching 2-0 and moving on.

The locker room broke into a massive party, and nobody was having more fun than Munetaka Murakami, who celebrated with his teammates, partied with his translator, and gave drunken interviews to anyone with a microphone.

“HE’S DRUNK! [gestures to translator] HE’s DRUNK! He’s my classmate [?], but he’s drunk! Yeah! I’m drunk! I’m drunk! Yesterday, maybe hungover. No, not yesterday — tomorrow, hungover. Yeah, sorry, I don’t speak English.”

The unabashed joy pouring out of Mune is contagious, and it happened again later in the evening when CHSN tracked him down for another attempted interview.

There’s just something special about this White Sox team. To lift an entire organization out of the cellar to become one of the best teams in baseball is a sight to behold, and they’re doing it together as a team — Munetaka Murekami is a huge part of that. The man deserves his drunken celebration.

The White Sox will play the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS starting on Saturday, October 3rd at 1 p.m. ET

The season’s been dead for less than 12 hours, but it’s always good to start reflecting on the year that was when the emotions are fresh, because you’ll probably never feel this strongly about the details of 2026 ever again.

So with that, we’ve got a simple question today: How do you feel about the 2026 Red Sox as a whole? It’s a more complicated question than usual at September’s end given the enormous highs and lows and the uncertainty of what will happen next, but we’ve got plenty of time to ponder it now that we don’t know when Red Sox baseball will be returning next.

For me, the 2026 season is a failure, and a big one! Third place for the third year in a row, failure to win at least 90 games for the fifth year in a row, and failure to bring playoff baseball back to Fenway Park for five years and counting. The season was salvaged from being an even bigger disaster by that remarkable 32-5 summer stretch, but when it ended, the September Red Sox once again became the April, May and most of June Red Sox. They had an offense that wasn’t good enough, a slate full of boring and uninspiring games, and a complete inability to execute in key spots.

But what are your emotions right now? Use this space to let us and the rest of the OTM community know. We’ll be here with you all offseason (however long that lasts into 2027), so make yourself comfortable, and as always, be good to one another.

The playoffs have only just begun, but we have already seen former Washington Nationals make an impact. While the Nats missed the postseason for the 7th straight season, there are a lot of familiar faces to watch. There are players who have not been on the Nats for a long time, but there are also guys who were on the 2026 team.

One of those recent Nats is Luis Garcia Jr., who had a huge night in his first career playoff start. Garcia opened the scoring for the Yankees in the bottom of the 4th inning with a towering solo home run to right field. He got all of a Sonny Gray sweeper and knew it right off the bat.

It would not surprise me if Garcia has a big postseason. In October, you see more velocity and nastier stuff. However, Garcia has never had any issues hitting velocity. He also has a flair for the dramatic. I am happy to see Garcia get a taste of playoff baseball, though I wish he could have done it in DC. There is a chance Garcia becomes a Yankees cult hero this October.

With Garcia’s Yankees eliminating the Red Sox, Curtis Mead will not get a chance to play in October. He was actually added to the roster yesterday after Roman Anthony’s injury. Mead did not get into the game though. After a monster year with the Nats, Mead got hurt in his first game with the Red Sox. We will see what he can do next year because that Mead for Early trade is fascinating.

The other 2026 National who is playing in October is Foster Griffin. We have not gotten to see him yet because the Guardians got a bye. I am curious to see what kind of role Griffin plays for Cleveland in October. He was not as sharp after the trade, but I still think he could be their game 3 starter behind Parker Messick and Gavin Williams.

Yesterday, Griffin’s Guardians learned who they will be playing in the ALDS. The White Sox knocked off the Astros with two convincing wins. There is actually a Nats connection on this White Sox team. Erick Fedde was a first rounder by the Nats back in 2014, but did not have a ton of success in DC.

For most of his career, Fedde has struggled. However, it seems like he turns into a different pitcher when he puts on a White Sox uniform. After going to Korea for a year, Fedde came back with the White Sox and had a phenomenal first half. He was actually part of a three team trade at the 2024 deadline which led to the White Sox acquiring Miguel Vargas, one of their best players.

Fedde was not as good after the trade to the Cardinals. In fact, he got released in 2025 and pitched for 3 different teams. This offseason, he returned to Chicago and pitched to a solid 3.83 ERA in 141 innings. Yesterday, Fedde got the last out of the White Sox first playoff series win since 2005 and was fired up in his playoff debut. While he was on the 2019 Nats, he never actually pitched in the playoffs. Now he is getting his shot.

As we all know, the Phillies core group is littered with former Nats. Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper have been at the top of the Phillies lineup together for years now. Of course, all of those guys spent time in DC. With Harper’s exit from DC and the divisional rivalry, I do not suppose many Nats fans will be rooting for them though.

It looked like Nats fans were going to get a successful hate watch. After the Phillies dropped game one, they were on the verge of elimination yesterday. I know a lot of Nats fans chuckled when Bryce Harper misplayed a ball in the outfield, leading to the Braves taking the lead.

As we know, Bryce has a flair for the dramatic though. In the top of the 8th, Harper tied the game after going back to back with Kyle Schwarber. It was a true postseason moment and it honestly made me miss October baseball in DC.

I do not want to be writing this kind of story next year. Hopefully the Nats will be able to knock the Phillies or Braves off their perch and make a playoff run of their own next season. Watching that series, I see two flawed teams who have aging or stale cores. They have enough talent to make a run, but I think the Nats have a window to strike these next couple of years. 

Nationals Park in October is a truly elite atmosphere. I would do anything to get that back. With the way Paul Toboni is building things, I have faith that the Nats can get back to October sooner rather than later. Hopefully I am writing about current Nationals being heroes in the playoffs in 2027, not former ones.

The man the San Diego Padres fanbase dubbed “Dairy Bonds” stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Padres leading 2-1 after the Chicago Cubs scored a run in the top of the inning. Xander Bogaerts hit a one-out double off Cubs starter Kevin Gausman and that knocked the right-hander out of the game. Chicago called on right-hander Daniel Palencia and he got the second out of the inning with a strikeout of Ethan Salas. Austin Hays was scheduled to hit, but San Diego manager Craig Stammen called on Gavin Sheets to pinch-hit and he delivered a two-out, two-run home run that was crushed deep into the right field bleachers to give the Padres a three-run lead en route to a 4-1 win and a series sweep at Petco Park on Wednesday night.

The home run from Sheets caused the fans to erupt and seemed to deflate the Cubs, who struggled on offense throughout the two-game series. Nick Pivetta started the game much like Michael King in the Game 1 win on Tuesday night. Pivetta struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman. Pivetta then got Michael Busch to groundout to get the San Diego offense to the plate.

There were no first-inning dramatics for the Padres in Game 2, but they did break open the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. San Diego was unable to add to its lead until the Sheets home run in the fourth and did not score after, but the four runs were all that were needed by the Padres.

Pivetta pitched into the fourth inning, but allowed a run after a single, a walk and a single and Stammen went to the bullpen for Bradgley Rodriguez. The rookie reliever struck out the first batter he faced, then hit the next batter, but left the bases loaded when he got Dansby Swanson to fly out to Jackson Merrill in center field.

The bullpen took over the game after the fourth. Rodriguez returned to the mound and pitched a scoreless fifth inning and Jason Adam pitched a scoreless sixth inning. Adrian Morejon pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning before Mason Miller came in for the save to close out the game and the series which allowed the Padres to get the win and advance to the National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

San Diego will be off Thursday and Friday and will open the NLDS in Milwaukee at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Padres News:

• Joe Musgrove did not disappoint in his return to the Padres, and his one inning of work seemed like a performance pulled from a movie.

• This is the third consecutive season the Padres have made the postseason and Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ballfeels like something is different this time around.

• Ethan Salas started Game 2 for the Padres and became the youngest player ever to catch a postseason game.

• Dennis Lin of The Athletic recapped the memorable moments from San Diego’s Game 1 win over Chicago.

• Former Padres utility man Tyler Wade announced his retirement from MLB.

• As good as the play was on the field, the fans and the stadium took center stage for San Diego in the Wild Card Series.

Baseball News:

• The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros and got a series win for the first time since 2005.

• The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves in extra innings and forced a decisive Game 3.

The New York Yankees knocked off the Boston Red Sox to advance to the second round of the MLB playoffs.

This is a prove-it offseason for Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.

Following a slow collapse in 2025 that resulted in New York being eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of the regular season, the club spun out of control early in 2026 and never recovered.

That the failures of the 2026 Mets came after an offseason of drastic change engineered by Stearns has put even more pressure on him to right the ship this offseason.

Speaking in July, owner Steve Cohendiscussed the future of Stearns, who is about to enter the fourth year of the five-year deal he signed before the 2023-24 offseason. While Cohen said the Mets are going to "live that contract out," he added the caveat that there are "no guarantees."

On the day after the season ended, Stearns was reflective and accountable, explaining that he simply had too many misses last offseason and that he's going to learn from it.

Put everything together and it seems fair to believe that Stearns might be more aggressive than usual this offseason, which would likely mean stepping out of his comfort zone of pragmatism and risk mitigation. 

As Stearns looks to take a 74-88 team and turn it into a group of players who can return to the playoffs in 2027, here's a step-by-step plan forward...

Add two starting pitchers, including an ace

Reading between the lines, the Mets might view their starting rotation like this heading into the offseason:

Nolan McLean is a lock, and Christian Scott should be close to a lock. Beyond that, things are up in the air.

It's easy to see Zac Thornton breaking camp as the No. 5 starter, but it's also possible he opens the year in Triple-A Syracuse as incredibly valuable depth. If Thornton meets his goal of adding two-to-three miles per hour to his fastball this offseason, though, it could be hard to justify keeping him down. 

As far as Jonah Tong, manager Andy Green made it pretty clear toward the end of the season that the young right-hander has to pitch himself into the Mets' plans. That means it will be a surprise if he doesn't begin the season in the minors.

Sean Manaea, who is coming off an up-and-down season, is owed $25 million in 2027 in what is the final season of the three-year deal he signed ahead of the 2025 campaign. So it's fair to believe he'll be in the rotation from the jump if he's healthy.

No matter what, the plan should be to add two legitimate rotation pieces this offseason.

One of them should be Tarik Skubal, and here's why.

As far as the other arm, the Mets could turn to a short-term, relatively low cost free agent like Tyler Mahle. It could also make sense to call a team like the Mariners, who could possibly be open to trading from their relative excess of starting pitching.

Go external at first base

During his end-of-season news conference, Stearns talked up Jared Young and Brett Baty as first base options, but also said the plan was to look externally for help. That's a wise idea.

While Young had an impressive campaign in 2026, he does not hit for enough power to profile as the regular first baseman. He also struggles against left-handed pitching.

Baty, who is not a natural first baseman, finished this past season strong but has yet to find consistency during parts of five years in the majors.

If Bo Bichette opts in (which seems to be the likeliest outcome), the Mets will be set at third base, shortstop, and all three outfield spots, making first base perhaps the most sensible spot to try to upgrade.

The pickings are slim in free agency, with Ty France a decent choice. But he's entering his age-32 season and will be coming off a career year that could jack his price up.

If the Mets want to go bold, a pursuit of Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato makes sense.

Sato, who will be entering his age-28 season, had a career-best 1.012 OPS this year for the Hanshin Tigers while smacking 37 homers and 39 doubles in 136 games. There is serious swing-and-miss in Sato's game -- he struck out 156 times this season. But if the Mets feel like his bat will translate well in the majors, he could be a lethal option in the middle of New York's lineup.

In a world where the Mets don't go big at first base, it would make sense to instead add a free agent DH option, with Seiya Suzuki standing out.

Go internal at second base

Despite Marcus Semien being set to make $24 million toward the luxury tax payroll each of the next two seasons, he is not a lock to enter 2027 as the starting second baseman.

That's because Semien's offensive slide continued in 2026 and his defense fell off dramatically, creating a potentially untenable situation.

Aside from Semien, the Mets could theoretically turn to Baty at second base. But the long-term plan there is likely one of New York's highly thought of prospects -- Jefferson Rojas, Mitch Voit, or Émilien Pitre.

All three players could possibly make their big league debut in 2027, and Rojas and Voit have serious upside.

Depending on how Semien plays, it's easy to envision one of the Mets' prospects grabbing the second base job during the first half of the season and never looking back.

Aim high for a free agent reliever

Despite dealing two relievers during their trade deadline sell-off who were under team control beyond 2026 (Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban), the Mets' bullpen is in decent shape.

As things currently stand, the depth chart looks something like this:

Devin Williams
Kodai Senga
Nate Lavender
Daniel Duarte
Dedniel Núñez
Tobias Myers
Austin Warren
Jefry Yan

Williams is coming off a bumpy season, and might be best suited for a setup role. Meanwhile, Senga showed that his fastball-ghost fork combination can play up in relief, but it's impossible to know if a bullpen role would work for him over a full season given his meticulous routines and past health issues.

So the Mets should be aiming to find a closer this offseason.

Fortunately for them, the electric Adrian Morejon is set to be on the free agent market. Morejon, who will be entering his age-28 season, has a four-seamer and two-seamer that both averaged near 100 mph in 2026, and graded out in the 90th percentile or better in in 10 of 12 key metrics tracked by Baseball Savant.

As is the case with Skubal, Stearns would likely have to come out of his comfort zone to land Morejon, who should command a deal of at least four years.

Adding the trio of Skubal, Sato, and Morejon this offseason would be pricey, but the Mets would do so knowing that there will be lots of money coming off the books after 2027. Specifically, Manaea ($25 million), Jorge Polanco ($20 million), and Senga ($15 million) are entering the final year of their respective deals. If Bichette opts out (either this offseason or next), it would free up an additional $42 million.  

Be selectively bold via trade

Following the Mets' moves at the trade deadline, Stearns was open about the possibility that some of the prospects acquired in those trades could be flipped in deals sooner rather than later.

The Mets shouldn't be actively seeking to move on from any specific prospects. However, if one of their infield prospects can be a headliner in a deal for a difference-maker, they shouldn't hesitate.

Depending on how the starting rotation is addressed, the Mets could also potentially use one of their close-to-the-majors pitching prospects in a trade.

The Phillies managed to force a decisive Game 3 in their Wild Card series with the Braves thanks in large part to a Herculean start from Cristopher Sánchez and a downright incredible performance from Andrew Painter out of the bullpen. Thanks to the efforts of those two, the entire Phillies bullpen is likely available for tomorrow’s win or go home Game 3. The use of Painter in relief is also a preview of the type of strategy the Phillies will use today.

Aaron Nola will likely be the Phillies starter, but he won’t be the only one to appear at some point in the game. Zack Wheeler will almost assuredly be available on three days rest and could theoretically even be an option to start, although Nola has never appeared out of the bullpen and Wheeler has postseason experience doing so, making the latter the likely candidate to be used in relief. After those two, the Phillies should have Alex McFarlane and Jhoan Duran available, although the former’s status is uncertain after appearing in both games so far and the length of which the latter can go is unknown after his long appearance in Game 1. They also will have the likes of Tim Mayza and Jonathan Bowlan, although the latter has not pitched since injuring his groin a few weeks ago. They may even have Painter who could possibly face a few batters after throwing 37 pitches yesterday.

There is a path to 27 outs there, but it will call for more creativity like the Phillies showed yesterday. So, how would you deploy the Phillies pitching today in Game 3?

When the Chicago Cubs began the 2026 season 27-12, a stretch that included two 10-game winning streaks, many of us thought, “Hey — maybe this year can be something special.”

Well. You know what happened after that. A 10-game losing streak. Injuries. Guys not producing. The bullpen imploding multiple times. After 27-12, they were just 62-61 — one game worse than the Marlins over that span. Sheesh.

And then, a Wild Card Series in which the Cubs offense pretty much vanished. That’s the story of Game 2, a 4-1 loss to the Padres that eliminated the Cubs from the 2026 postseason, almost as if they weren’t even there to begin with.

I could end this recap right there, because what more is there to say, really?

Nevertheless, you come here for game recaps and since this was the last Cubs game of 2026, let’s look at what happened.

One pitch into the bottom of the first inning, the Cubs were already ahead of Game 1 because, well, Fernando Tatis Jr. did not hit Kevin Gausman’s first pitch out of the yard. So, progress?

That progress lasted one inning. In the second, Ty France doubled and stopped at third on a single by Jackson Merrill. Xander Bogaerts singled in France, with Merrill stopping at third, where he scored on a sacrifice fly by Ethan Salas. Incidentally, Salas, who won’t turn 21 until next June, became the youngest catcher ever to appear in a MLB postseason game, breaking the record set by Atlanta catcher Bob Didier in 1969.

The 2-0 score is where the game stayed until the top of the fourth, when the Cubs finally broke through onto the board for the first time in this series.

Seiya Suzuki hit a one-out single and Ian Happ walked.

Nico Hoerner’s single up the middle scored Suzuki to make it 2-1 [VIDEO].

So, down by only one run in the fourth inning, with two runners still on base and only one out? Maybe the Cubs offense could get going here?

It was not to be, although after Matt Shaw struck out, Carson Kelly was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Dansby Swanson flied to center to end the inning.

About that single run, from BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs did not score for the first 12.1 innings of this series.

That is the longest they ever have gone without scoring from the start of a post-season series. They were shut out in Game 1 of three previous series.

In the 1918 World Series vs. the Red Sox and 2015 Division Series vs. the Cardinals, they scored with one out in the second inning of Game 2.

In the 2016 World Series, they scored with one out in the first inning of Game 2.

The one-run deficit did not last long. Gausman struck out Merrill to start the fourth, but Bogaerts then doubled. Craig Counsell opted to bring in Daniel Palencia, who struck out Salas.

Then the Padres sent up Gavin Sheets to bat for Austin Hays. Sheets entered this game with career numbers of .297/.348/.484 with three home runs in 69 plate appearances against the Cubs during the regular season. You could have seen this coming all the way from San Diego to Chicago [VIDEO].

Palencia then hit Jake Cronenworth with a pitch, and the San Diego crowd booed as if that had been intentional; clearly, it was not — Palencia was just struggling with command.

The score might have been worse if not for this nice grab by Pete Crow-Armstrong off Tatis to end the inning [VIDEO].

So at least we got a nice defensive memory from PCA from this series, even as his offense was silent — 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series.

That fourth inning was basically it. Palencia, David Peterson and Ryan Zeferjahn held the Padres scoreless the rest of the way, four combined shutout innings with four strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Cubs had just three more baserunners after the fourth. Michael Busch walked with two out in the fifth. Tyrone Taylor, batting for Busch, singled with one out in the eighth but was erased when Suzuki hit into a double play. Nico Hoerner doubled with one out in the ninth but was stranded. The Cubs went 1-for-8 with RISP in this game. If they’d hit in those situations would the result have been any different? I’m thinking probably not.

These two games in San Diego were a hallmark of this team, just as the offensive outbursts that had the 2026 Cubs lead MLB in runs also were. It was a real feast-or-famine season — long stretches where the offense could do no wrong, and others where the hitters just did not show up at all.

Here’s PCA on the season-ending loss [VIDEO].

Here are some postgame remarks from Alex Bregman [VIDEO].

Bregman, whose previous postseason performance was one of the reasons the Cubs signed him, went 0-for-8 in this series with four strikeouts.

Lastly, here are Craig Counsell’s postgame remarks [VIDEO].

Would the result of this series have been any different if the Cubs had won two more regular-season games and had home field? Probably not; it’s clear by watching these two games that the Padres were on a roll, which began over the last three weeks of the regular season and carried over into this series. Further, it’s very likely that weather would have been a major factor. It rained all day and evening in Chicago Wednesday and it’s still raining here early Thursday morning, which could have thrown scheduling for this series into chaos. In the end, this Cubs team just wasn’t good enough to move on, and you know the reasons, mostly pitching — injuries and ineffectiveness from both starters and relievers. The offense was great — until it wasn’t.

More on the offense from John:

In the two games of this series, the Cubs were 8 for 62, a batting average of .129. That is lower than in any of their 22 previous post-season series since 1901.

They batted .140 in the one-game Wild Card loss in 2018 and .145 in their two-game WC loss in 2020.

Other seasons below .200:
.168 in 2017 (10 games)
.181 in 1998 (3 games)
.194 in 2007 (3 games)
.196 in 1906 (6 games)

They batted .233 in 17 games when they won the World Series in 2016.

These are things that Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer will have to address this offseason, and that brings me to the upcoming uncertainty. Normally when a Cubs season ends, I’d tell you the next date we will see a Chicago Cubs team on the field the following year. They are scheduled to take the field Friday, Feb. 19, 2027 against the A’s at Ho Ho Kam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona. But with a looming owners’ lockout likely happening when the current MLB/MLBPA collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, there’s no guarantee that the 2027 Spring Training schedule — or regular season schedule — will be played as currently listed.

And so we wait. For developments, as is often said here.

In the meantime, stick around. We’ll have game threads here for all the remaining postseason games, including tonight’s decisive Phillies/Braves Game 3, which will begin at 7 p.m. CT (game thread will post at 6 p.m. CT). And of course, we’ll cover all the MLB offseason labor news and other baseball news here.

As is my custom, I will wrap my last game recap of the year by quoting from the late Commissioner Bart Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind” — quite appropriate today with the Chicago area weather.

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.