Cubs to face Padres in NL wild-card series as playoff picture starts to take shape

September 25, 2025 - 7:19pm

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. watches the flight of his two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Monday, April 8, 2024, in San Diego. (Denis Poroy/AP)

The first matchup of the MLB post-season is officially set.

After the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West title on Thursday, the San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs are locked in for a matchup in the NL wild-card series.

The teams will finish as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the NL, but which team will host the series is still to be determined.

Entering Thursday's action, the Cubs hold a 2.5-game lead over the Padres for the fourth seed.

The Padres are idle on Thursday, while the Cubs host a New York Mets club that is battling for the final wild-card spot in the NL.

This season, the Padres and Cubs split their six games, with each team winning two of three games at its home park.

It will be just the second meeting in the post-season between the two clubs, with the last meeting coming in the 1984 NLCS that the Padres won in a winner-take-all Game 5.