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3 Cubs most to blame for pathetic NL Wild Card Series sweep by Padres
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- 3 Cubs most to blame for pathetic NL Wild Card Series sweep by Padres
3 Cubs most to blame for pathetic NL Wild Card Series sweep by Padres appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Chicago Cubs entered the MLB playoffs with baseball's highest-scoring regular-season offense. Two games later, their season was over with just one run, eight hits, and no victories at Petco Park.
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The San Diego Padres followed an 8-0 opening win with a 4-1 victory to sweep the NL Wild Card Series. The Cubs never supplied enough resistance to make their regular-season offensive success matter.
San Diego deserves credit for executing under pressure. Still, Chicago needed substantially more from the players entrusted with setting the tone on the mound and driving their lineup.
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Three stand out for all the wrong reasons.
3. Matthew Boyd
Matthew Boyd gave the Cubs little opportunity to settle into Game 1.
Fernando Tatis Jr. homered on his first pitch, and Manny Machado added another homer in the opening inning. Xander Bogaerts followed with a solo shot in the fourth. Boyd allowed four runs across four innings, leaving Chicago chasing a substantial deficit.
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Against Michael King , who surrendered one hit over seven scoreless innings, those mistakes proved especially costly. The Cubs needed their starter to keep the opener manageable while their hitters searched for answers. Instead, Boyd helped provide the Padres with immediate separation .
Chicago's scoreless offense limits how much responsibility belongs to its starter. Even an excellent outing might not have changed the result.
Nevertheless, allowing three home runs in four innings represents a clear failure in execution. Boyd helped turn the opener into a comfortable Padres victory and left the Cubs facing elimination the following night.
2. Alex Bregman
Alex Bregman finished the series 0-for-8, providing zero hits from the second spot in the Cubs' lineup.
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That absence mattered because the Cubs also received nothing in the hit column from their leadoff hitter. Their first two batters combined to go 0-for-15, repeatedly forcing the rest of the order to manufacture offense without their usual table-setters contributing hits.
Bregman's postseason experience heightened expectations, but his actual production supplies the strongest criticism. Chicago needed a veteran hitter to extend innings, create opportunities, and help interrupt San Diego 's control. He never delivered a hit in either game.
Bregman could not rescue the offense alone, but the former World Series champion with the Houston Astros needed to deliver more from the second spot in the lineup. His hitless series compounded the Cubs' offensive collapse.
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
Pete Crow-Armstrong carries the most blame because the Cubs' offensive catalyst never ignited .
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He went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts, including an 0-for-4 performance in the elimination game. His Game 1 walk and stolen base offered a brief contribution, but the Cubs needed considerably more from their leadoff hitter.
His outstanding 2026 regular season made him the heavy favorite to win NL MVP, raising expectations for October. This made his hitless series especially jarring when the Cubs needed their best hitter to deliver.
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Two games cannot erase months of excellent baseball or establish that Crow-Armstrong cannot perform in October. They do, however, underscore how far he fell short of the organization's postseason expectations.
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Boyd dug an early hole, while Bregman and Crow-Armstrong failed to respond .
The Cubs spent six months building an offense capable of carrying them through October. Against the Padres, it produced one run and no answers. For a team with far greater ambitions, that is a failure its biggest names must own.
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