SAN DIEGO – The Cubs’ roster for their best-of-three series against the Padres is in.
The team is carrying a dozen pitchers:
– Javier Assad
– Matthew Boyd
– Aaron Civale
– Kevin Gausman
– Clay Holmes
– Shota Imanaga
– Daniel Palencia
– David Peterson
– Colin Rea
– Ryan Rolison
– Jacob Webb
– Ryan Zeferjahn
Manager Craig Counsell said both Gausman, the righty who’s been bothered by his left shoulder since making a diving tag play last week, and Imanaga, who threw 12 pitches in an inning of work Sunday, will pitch in the series, though it’s uncertain, at this point, how they will be deployed.
Counsell’s commitment to a staff full of “out-getters” without specific roles come playoff time shows in the large number of starters and multi-inning relievers on this list. They could be asked to pitch in their more traditional roles or to be used in more non-traditional situations, the nature of playoff pitching.
Veteran lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar was not included on the roster after finishing the regular season with a 4.68 ERA and 11 home runs allowed.
Right-hander Edward Cabrera, who was acquired in a high-profile offseason trade but struggled this season with injuries and underperformance, was also absent. He was placed on the Family Medical Emergency List last week.
The Cubs put 14 position players on their initial playoff roster:
– Miguel Amaya
– Gabriel Arias
– Alex Bregman
– Michael Busch
– Michael Conforto
– Ian Happ
– Nico Hoerner
– Carson Kelly
– Pete Crow-Armstrong
– Pedro Ramirez
– Matt Shaw
– Seiya Suzuki
– Dansby Swanson
– Tyrone Taylor
The Cubs were undecided Monday whether Bregman would play third base, weighing whether it’d be too risky to expose him to further dangers in the field after he suffered multiple facial fractures when a foul ball hit his face a little over a week ago.
Bregman’s potential limitation to serving as a designated hitter figures to explain why Arias, who appeared in only seven games for the Cubs during the regular season, was included as an additional infielder.
Boyd gets the start in Game 1 on Tuesday night, a 9 p.m. Central first pitch in Southern California.
Game 2 will also start at 9 p.m. Central on Wednesday night. The start time for Game 3 on Thursday, should it be necessary, will depend on how many of the other wild-card series make it past two games.