SAN DIEGO — Revenge, apparently, is best served underneath 47,513 screaming fans waving yellow towels.
One year after the Chicago Cubs sent the San Diego Padres home from Wrigley Field, the Padres returned the favor Wednesday night at Petco Park, beating Chicago 4-1 in Game 2 to sweep their NL Wild Card Series and advance to the NLDS.
The rematch belonged to San Diego.
After Michael King flirted with a no-hitter in Tuesday’s 8-0 demolition, the Cubs at least showed a pulse Wednesday. Unfortunately, by the time they found it, they had wandered directly into the worst neighborhood in postseason baseball: the Padres bullpen.
Chicago’s offense, the highest-scoring unit in MLB during the regular season, managed just one run in 18 postseason innings.
To make matters worse, presumptive NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series.
Not ideal.
Kevin Gausman kept Chicago alive early after the Padres ambushed Matthew Boyd in Game 1, but San Diego eventually broke through in the second inning.
Xander Bogaerts drove home Ty France before 20-year-old Ethan Salas — the youngest catcher ever to start an MLB postseason game — lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Jackson Merrill for a 2-0 lead.
Chicago finally answered in the fourth.
Seiya Suzuki reached and Nico Hoerner singled him home, producing the Cubs’ first run of the series and ending Nick Pivetta’s night after just 3 1/3 innings.
Suddenly, Chicago had runners on first and second and the tying run threatening.
Padres manager Craig Stammen didn’t blink.
He went straight for Bradgley Rodriguez, beginning the bullpen parade San Diego spent the entire series trying to reach.
Rodriguez escaped a bases loaded jam without another run scoring, and Chicago’s best opportunity disappeared.
Pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets delivered the knockout blow in the bottom half of the inning.
Sheets somehow got the barrel underneath the pitch and launched a towering two-run homer into the right-field seats, turning a tense 2-1 game into a 4-1 Padres advantage.
From there, San Diego slammed the vault shut.
Rodriguez, Jason Adam, Adrián Morejón and Mason Miller combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings. No comeback. No miracle. No do-or-die Game 3.
The Padres finally got their revenge and the Cubs reservations for October got cancelled after just two nights.
What it means
San Diego advances to the NLDS for the second time in three years and third time in five seasons, where the Padres will face the Milwaukee Brewers beginning Saturday.
The timing couldn’t be better. San Diego owned baseball’s best record over the final two months and just dismantled MLB’s highest-scoring offense, 12-1, over two games.
Now comes Milwaukee, owner of baseball’s best regular-season record.
Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.
Chicago heads home after an offense built to bludgeon opponents produced one run in 18 innings. The Cubs’ pitching needs offseason attention, but their stars disappearing in October will sting even longer.
Turning point
With Chicago finally threatening in the fourth, Stammen pulled Pivetta after 3 1/3 innings and handed the baseball to Rodriguez.
The Cubs eventually loaded the bases with two outs, but Rodriguez got Dansby Swanson to fly out.
Chicago had finally cracked the door open, but Rodriguez slammed it shut.
Did you see that?
“Holy Sheets!”
Petco Park called it. Gavin Sheets delivered it.
Sheets came off the bench for Austin Hays and somehow dug out Palencia’s 101 mph fastball, launching a two-run homer into the right-field seats.
The moment carried a little symmetry, too: Sheets opened the 2026 season with a pinch-hit homer on Opening Day.
Six months later, he helped end Chicago’s season with another.
Up next
The Padres head to Milwaukee for Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday against the Brewers, matching baseball’s hottest team against the club that finished with MLB’s best record.
Chicago heads back to the Windy City for a considerably longer offseason than anyone expected from baseball’s highest-scoring team.
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