The Chicago Cubs played the San Diego padres on the first day of the National League Wild Card series. The best of three winner would advance to the National League Division Series. The Cubs were 92-70 in the regular season, and the Padres were 90-72. Cubs pitching, which has struggled at some points throughout the season, had a great game, walking one and allowing only four hits and one earned run. The only run the Padres scored in this game was on a throwing error from center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, a rare error from the Midseason National League MVP, All Star player, and the Gold and Platinum Glove candidate.
The Cubs faced the Padres again for the second game of the series and suffered a crushing defeat as they were out played 7-4. In the final game for the NL Wild Card Series, the teams faced each other at the historic Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs. Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon, a strong pitcher in the preseason with 129 innings pitched and a 3.68 ERA, faced off against Padres starter Yu Darvish. Darvish has had a lackluster 2025 season with a 5.38 ERA and 72 innings pitched. He gave up four hits and two earned runs. Michael Busch homered in the 7th and Jackson Merrill responded in the 9th but it was not enough and the Cubs won 3-1, bringing them to the National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the first game of the NLDS, the Cubs lost in a blowout 9-3. The early pitchers, Matthew Boyd and Michael Soroka gave up a combined five earned runs and nine hits. The following game put the Cubs into a bad trajectory for their postseason, with a brutal loss 7-3. The following game was for the division series and with a clutch hit from PCA to break the tie and series was kept alive. Game 4 of the series the Cubs’ bats grew hot, with three home runs and 10 hits. In Game 5, with a tie of 2-2, the Cubs and Brewers faced off for the final time at American Family Field. The Brewers scored with three solo home runs and a total of 6 hits. The Cubs were simply outhit 6-4. A common problem for the Cubs throughout the season was poorly-timed hitting. When the Cubs lost, they generally had many batters left on base. In this game, they left five on base, and with better timed hitting, the Cubs could have overcome the two run deficit.
Chicago is home to some of the most loyal sports fans, many being distraught by the loss against the Brewers. Senior Karl Neumayer, a lifelong Cubs fan, felt heartbroken after their tragic loss.
“I was really sad. I’ve been a Cubs fan for basically all my life,” said Neumayer. “I really thought we could make it. I mean I saw this ending coming but I was watching the game and then I looked away and then all of a sudden it was tied.”
Other fans blamed the loss on insufficient pitching. Senior baseball player Dennis Potamites thought the pitching in the second half of the season was lackluster.
“I was disappointed with the Cubs but I saw this coming from the first two games [against the Brewers], ” said Potamites. “Losing one of our best pitchers [Justin Steele] had probably one of the biggest effects on the outcome.”
Junior baseball player Zach Gavrilos felt that the Cubs were no longer playing to their potential, which they showed early in the preseason with many fans believing the Cubs had a chance at a World Series title.
“They definitely under-performed,” said Gavrilos. “If you look at the beginning of this season everybody thought they were going to win the World Series. So based off that, it was pretty under-performing, but their second half of the season was not very good. So, I mean, you could say with all their injuries they were not playing as well as they could have.”
