Cubs vs Padres MLB playoff schedule: 2025 NL Wild Card Series dates, times
Major League Baseball has announced the official game times for the best-of-three 2025 NL Wild Card Series.
[MORE: Cubs clinch top NL wild-card seed, will host Padres at Wrigley Field]
Each of the first two games of the Chicago Cubs-San Diego Padres series Tuesday and Wednesday at Wrigley Field will begin at 2:08 p.m. CT and be broadcast on ABC.
Game 3, if necessary, would take place Thursday. However, an official start time is yet to be determined.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will take the prime-time slot at 8:08 p.m. CT, playing either the New York Mets or Cincinnati Reds. Each of those first two games will be broadcast on ESPN.
The AL wild-card field hasn’t yet been set ahead of Game 162 of the regular season, but the first series will be the earliest, with a first pitch time of 12:08 p.m. CT.
The Cubs officially clinched home-field advantage with Saturday’s win over the St. Louis Cardinals. They clinched a playoff berth 10 days earlier after sweeping the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
[MORE: Inside Cubs clubhouse during MLB playoff berth celebration]
Game 1 will mark the Cubs’ first playoff contest since 2020 and their first in front of fans since 2018.
The Cubs haven’t won a playoff game since 2017 — they were swept in two games by the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field in 2020, and lost to the Colorado Rockies in a 13-inning thriller in 2018, back when the wild-card round still was a single-elimination format.

