Cubs announce lineup for 2025 NL Wild Card Game 2 vs. Padres
CHICAGO — The Cubs are one win away from a date with the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.
Craig Counsell’s squad pulled off a key Game 1 victory in the NL Wild Card Series over the San Diego Padres, putting their NL West rival on the brink of elimination.
No major-league team has lost the first game of the new best-of-three, wild-card format and come back to win the series.
Of course, that’s not to say it can’t happen.
The Padres are a team packed with playoff-tested veterans and they won 90 games throughout the regular season.
Former Cubs prospect and White Sox ace Dylan Cease will take the mound for San Diego. While the 29-year-old righty has struggled this year on the road (5.58 ERA, 1.38 WHIP), he can miss bats with the best of them and can very easily turn in a dominant outing. Cease has racked up more than 200 strikeouts in each of the last five seasons and led the league with 11.5 whiffs per nine innings in 2025.
The Cubs will counter with right-hander Andrew Kittredge, who normally serves as a back-end reliever.
Kittredge will presumably throw just one inning and then Counsell and the Cubs have options: Will they go with a full bullpen game and play matchups? Or will they have a bulk reliever come in after Kittredge to eat up innings — like southpaw Shota Imanaga?
Here’s how the Cubs will line up against Cease:
Cubs lineup
- Michael Busch — 1B
- Nico Hoerner — 2B
- Ian Happ — LF
- Kyle Tucker — DH
- Seiya Suzuki — RF
- Carson Kelly — C
- Pete Crow-Armstrong — CF
- Dansby Swanson — SS
- Matt Shaw — 3B
Analysis
This is the same lineup the Cubs rolled out in Game 1, when they pushed across three runs against Padres ace Nick Pivetta and the vaunted San Diego bullpen.
Can the Cubs pull off a second straight win with that group? Tuesday’s Game 1 script could work well enough for a victory in Game 2.
After all, the Cubs got only six hits and a walk in Game 1 while striking out 13 times. They just made it count with a pair of home runs from Suzuki and Kelly and a sacrifice fly from Hoerner.
The big key will be how the Cubs keep a very good Padres lineup down for a second straight game.
Check back for info and analysis on the Padres lineup once it’s announced.
Padres lineup
- Fernando Tatis Jr. – RF
- Luis Arraez – 1B
- Manny Machado – 3B
- Jackson Merrill – CF
- Xander Bogaerts – SS
- Ryan O’Hearn – DH
- Gavin Sheets – LF
- Jake Cronenworth – 2B
- Freddy Fermin – C
Analysis
The Padres ran out five lefties against Cubs southpaw Matthew Boyd in Game 1. Their only run came on an RBI double from veteran shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
They’ll roll out the same lineup in Game 2 against Kittredge. With Imanaga expected to be available, that would give the Cubs four lefties as options after Kittedge as Caleb Thielbar, Taylor Rogers and Drew Pomeranz will also be ready to pitch out of the bullpen.
