SAN DIEGO — The Battle of the Bridesmaids is underway at Petco Park.
Gazing upon the Cubs and Padres as they prepared to get down to business in Game 1 of their National League wild-card series, it occurred to a visitor just how alike these teams are.
They might be the only two teams in the major leagues that are (1) talented enough to win the World Series, (2) capable of spending what they have to in order to win big and yet (3) are roadblocked, year after year, by the same division bullies they just can’t overcome.
The Cubs have the Brewers, of course, who have won the NL Central six times since the Cubs last did it in a non-pandemic season (2017). In 2023, the Brewers finished nine games in front of the Cubs, who missed the playoffs by a whisker and fired manager David Ross before pilfering Craig Counsell from their I-94 enemies. Naturally, in 2024, Counsell’s Cubs promptly finished 10 back of Pat Murphy’s Brewers and missed the playoffs again. Last season, the Brewers punctuated yet another division win by knocking the Cubs out of the playoff party, and this year? A 14-game canyon between the Brewers and the second-place Cubs stretched as far as the eye could see.
The Padres only wish they had a small-market overachiever atop their list of problems. Instead, they have the singular colossus that is the Dodgers, who have claimed 13 of the last 14 NL West titles (and won 106 games in the year they finished second, 2021, the Giants edging them with 107). Still in robust position to contend, the Padres are in the playoffs for the fifth time in the last seven years, having finished second to the Dodgers every one of those times.
While their tormentors luxuriate, watching wild-card games on television with their feet up and umbrella drinks balanced on their sated bellies, the Cubs and Padres have no choice but to slug it out in a best-of-three series that only makes it harder to achieve Fall Classic dreams.
“There’s all different paths,” longtime Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. “We’ve seen teams that have gotten to the World Series by being the hot team going through the wild-card route, and we’ve seen with [other] teams that, obviously, playing one less series can definitely help you.”
The Brewers — who await the winner of this series — were noticeably fresher last October in the divisional round against the Cubs, who were on fumes after outlasting the Padres in three wild-card games at Wrigley Field.
Some wild-card teams get hotter than a San Diego tamale and win the whole shebang anyway. But the very idea of the Cubs or Padres potentially getting through both the Brewers and the Dodgers in the coming weeks is a lot to take in.
“I think it forces you to set high standards and play at a high level,” Preller said. “There are challenges, but I think there are also things that you benefit from in terms of being ready for a season and for a postseason. Hopefully, we’re ready for this one.”
Like the Cubs, who have had a stellar season at the plate and on defense, the Padres have reasons to like their chances and zero room for excuses. From July 24 on, the Padres had the best record in the majors at 41-18. They have the wickedest bullpen in the sport, hands down, and — try to wrap your minds around this — went all-in to the tune of $970 million on the contracts of third baseman Manny Machado, right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
When you throw that much at trying to get past the Dodgers and win all the marbles, it’s no wonder you’ve run through managers as quickly as the Padres have of late, from Jayce Tingler to Bob Melvin to Mike Shildt and now Craig Stammen.
That’s another thing these two teams have in common — dueling Craigs.
Cubs skipper Craig Counsell didn’t come here to offer any excuses, not even after his travel-weary team’s odyssey through Boston and St. Petersburg, Florida, on the way here.
“No repercussions in any way,” Counsell said a few hours before the start of a playoff journey that might last a while, unless it’s over in a jiffy. “We’re ready to go. Sunny San Diego, you know? You can’t beat it. It’s never a bad thing coming here.”
That’s true. Sometimes, though, it’s a whole lot better to be in a comfy chair with a cold drink, resting up for a series to come.