CHICAGO — The Cubs’ season all comes down to this.

The MLB Wild Card Series format was moved to a best-of-three series at the start of the 2022 season. It has now morphed into a one-game playoff scenario for the Cubs and San Diego Padres on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs won the first game. The Padres won the next. Now it’s winner-take-all.

In the first three years of the new format, only two of the 12 series went to three games.

Yet each of the league’s first two games played on Wednesday — Cubs-Padres and Tigers-Guardians — ended up being stretched to three games.

[Why Cubs pitched to Manny Machado in pivotal Game 2 loss to Padres]

The Cubs had a chance to put away the Padres Wednesday afternoon but couldn’t piece together an offensive attack against former Cubs prospect Dylan Cease and the dynamic San Diego bullpen.

Now, the Cubs will send Jameson Taillon to the mound against former Cubs ace Yu Darvish in what is shaping up to be an intense showdown. Obviously the Cubs hoped to pull off the two-game sweep, but they knew it wasn’t going to be an easy battle against a Padres team that won 90 games in the regular season.

“I think the first two games is really what you expected in this series, and I think tomorrow will be a lot of the same,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I think we’re made for that. We’re going to have to produce more offense tomorrow; there’s no question.”

The Cubs managed only five baserunners in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss — a double by Seiya Suzuki, three singles and a walk. They went 0-for-3 overall with runners in scoring position.

“They got a great pitching staff,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “They’ve been doing this all year. Every time we’ve played them, it’s been a battle. Obviously expect the same thing tomorrow with their best stuff against our best stuff.”

When the season boils down to one game, there’s certainly a feeling of pressure. Anything can happen in one game. All it takes is one crazy bounce or a poor outing from one pitcher to change the course of the game.

The Cubs feel they have the advantage, playing at Wrigley Field in front of 41,000 hometown fans.

“We’re just looking forward to get another game out of the Wrigley crowd,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “I think that’s how I’m gonna choose to look at it. We knew this wouldn’t be easy.

“The boys are gonna show up and repeat. We’re all trusting in each other, and in the process. That’s been a big focus of ours and we’ve been really good at that.”

And the Cubs will hand the ball off to their hottest (healthy) pitcher. Cade Horton is on the IL, but Taillon finished the season on a high note after returning from his own injury in mid-September.

Over his final four starts of the regular season, Taillon posted a 1.54 ERA and rattled off three straight quality starts to end the year.

“It’s big. I think it’s less about me and just more about these guys,” Taillon said. “I really do love this team and love this city, and I want to come through for these guys in here.

“This is why I’m here. I’m here to pitch these types of games. And I love everyone in here. So I just want to go out and be that guy.”

The Cubs have been a resilient team all year, bouncing back from the season-ending injury to ace Justin Steele in April and navigating weeks-long injuries to Shota Imanaga and Kyle Tucker.

There is certainly pressure associated with a do-or-die game, but the Cubs know they can rise above that.

‘We’re ready for these big games, in these big moments,” Taillon said. “You can always fall back on your routines and your processes. I don’t think we need to go out there with the idea of our backs being against the wall. I think we go out there, play our game, execute our plan, and we’ll be all right.”