CHICAGO — When the Cubs open their playoff slate against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, they’ll be taking on a team they’ve faced six times this season.

And yet, in many ways, it’ll feel like the first time they’re playing each other in 2025.

“We haven’t seen them in a long time,” Ian Happ told Elise Menaker on Cubs 360: 2025 Playoff Preview on Monday night. “I think it’s one of the craziest parts of the schedule. We saw them in April and haven’t seen them since.”

[READ: What to know for NL Wild Card Series vs. Padres]

It’s what makes this NL Wild Card Series so captivating. It’s two 90-plus win teams squaring off – squads that looked playoff-caliber way back on April 16, when they last met – yet might appear unfamiliar when they square off on Tuesday afternoon.

The Padres were without one of their key outfielders, Jackson Merrill, during that April that series, using Tyler Wade (who finished the year in the minors) in center field. Jason Heyward (who is a free agent) played left field, and Connor Joe (who’s in the minors with Cincinnati) played first for San Diego.

The Cubs started Jon Berti at third base – their second-half hero Matt Shaw was in Triple-A and brought Luke Little and Ethan Roberts out of the bullpen.

No, these aren’t quite the same two teams, but there is one constant.

In a bit of an ironic twist, it’ll be Matthew Boyd toeing the rubber for the Cubs in the playoff opener and Nick Pivetta for the Padres – when they last matched up, it was Pivetta beating Boyd at Petco Park. That doesn’t mean you can pencil in the Padres as a lock to take Game 1.

[MORE: Watch Matthew Boyd’s emotional response to being Cubs’ Game 1 starter]

After all, Boyd and the Cubs beat Pivetta and the Padres nine days prior at Wrigley Field.

“I think playoff baseball is playoff baseball – it’s a different beast; it’s a different game,” Pivetta said. “We’re just going to go out there like it’s Game 1 and just go out there and go at each other like we always do. It’s an exciting time for baseball, and we’re going to give them our best and they’ll probably give their best as well.”

But you don’t completely dismiss those six games in April, either.

“You take every piece of knowledge that you can, and you use it to the best game plan as you can,” Boyd said. “So, whether it’s that, whether it’s the history that I have with facing Manny [Machado], even before that; whether the second half of the season they have had as well, too, right?

“You look at everything and develop the best game plan … But you take all the information you can, make a good game plan and go out there and execute from Pitch 1.”

It is playoff baseball after all. They might not have seen each other in over five months, but the focus has been on one another for a while.

And now comes the exciting part.

“I’m sure they’re a different team now than they were then, and so are we,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “They obviously have a lot of talented players, have a lot of really good arms, and there’s a reason they’re in the position they’re in as well.

“They’ve played a lot of good ball all year and it’s going to be a fun series.”