Padres add Joe Musgrove to NL Wild Card Series roster for Cubs rematch

Wow. They actually did it. Joe Musgrove is on the Padres’ 26-man NL Wild Card Series roster. A guy hasn’t appeared in the majors since Oct. 2, 2024, is suddenly available for a three-game rematch against the Cubs. It’s a sentence that would’ve sounded ridiculous a few weeks ago. But today, it feels perfect for the Padres.

Musgrove’s road back was nothing close to linear. Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2025 season. Elbow trouble stalled his comeback again this spring. Even when his pitches looked ready, his arm struggled to recover between outings. He could handle the mound. Getting back onto it five days later seemed to be the problem.

By early September, the idea had shrunk from a rotation return to a couple of innings out of the bullpen. Somehow, that dream looks like it’s becoming a reality.

Musgrove recently flashed a 95-96 mph fastball, a hard cutter and a sharp breaking ball during an instructional league appearance. The Padres aren’t looking for him to be a traditional starter against Chicago. They need a condensed version with the full arsenal. And that could be a pretty nasty version.

Joe Musgrove can become San Diego’s Wild Card fireman

San Diego already has a clear late-game engine. Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller and the rest of this bullpen have spent the season shortening games. Musgrove gives Craig Stammen a different type of weapon.

Musgrove can fit in right when the Cubs’ lineup turns over for a third time. Or if things are wobbling too early to burn their high leverage arms.

He can become the fireman between the starter and the back-end relievers. He has the pitch mix to face either side of the plate, the experience to enter with traffic and the temperament to handle a postseason crowd without needing a few batters to settle down.

Maybe the Padres only get five or six outs from him. In a best-of-three series, that’s plenty.

At the same time, this can’t be a welcome-home gift. His history with the Friars makes this return emotional. His current stuff makes it defensible. The Padres didn’t carry him for nostalgia, or the memory of what he did at Citi Field in 2022. They actually need him. 

The main concern here is if he pitches once and cannot answer the bell again, San Diego will be playing the rest of the series a man down. But with Casey Mize on the 15-day IL and theoretically unavailable for the postseason, the Padres saw the risk and made the call anyway.

A safe 12th pitcher doesn’t necessarily change a playoff game, but Musgrove might. Chicago ended San Diego’s season last October. This rematch belongs to Petco Park, and the Padres are bringing back one of the defining pitchers of their recent postseason history for it.

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