Now that the Cubs‘ opening-round playoff series with the Padres is going to a winner-take-all third game, they’ll see a familiar face on the mound.
Right-hander Yu Darvish, who spent three seasons on the North Side, will be the Padres’ starting pitcher for Game 3. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs.
The Cubs inked Darvish to a big-money free-agent deal before the 2018 season but shipped him to the Padres in a seven-player trade three seasons into the contract.
Darvish’s finest year in a Cubs uniform came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he posted a 2.01 ERA in a dozen starts and finished second in the NL Cy Young vote. But as the team’s outlook shifted, it sold high, acquiring, among many others, current top-rated prospect Owen Caissie.
Darvish made one playoff start with the Cubs, throwing 6⅔ innings in Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Marlins in 2020. He’s been sensational in the playoffs since joining the Padres, with a 2.56 ERA in six starts across two postseasons.
“This place did me good,” Darvish said of the Cubs through an interpreter Wednesday morning before Game 2. “The organization, the fans did me good, too. Wrigley Field does have a special place in my heart, and I feel fortunate I may have the possibility to pitch on the mound here.”
Darvish has had one of the rougher seasons of his 13-year major-league career in 2025, finishing an injury-impacted regular season with a 5.38 ERA in just 15 starts. Things were slightly better down the stretch, though, with the righty not allowing more than three earned runs in an outing over five September starts.
The Cubs failed to clinch a spot in the NLDS after getting blanked by the Padres..
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The Padres played with the necessary desperation befitting the team on the brink of elimination and flexed their postseason mettle.
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The Cubs haven’t exactly torn the cover off the ball in recent postseason opportunities at Wrigley Field. But Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ and the rest have one more chance on Thursday.
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