Padres stars waste no time taking over Wild Card Game 1 against Cubs

The Padres needed their stars to rise to the moment in this one, and they got that immediately. Fernando Tatis Jr. demolished the first pitch the Padres saw. Manny Machado added a first-inning home run of his own. By the time King walked off the mound after six no-hit innings, the Padres led 7-0 and nearly every major name on the roster had left a fingerprint on the game.

This is what the Padres have been waiting to see.

There have been nights when the Padres looked like a collection of famous players instead of a serious postseason threat. That was the story against these same Cubs last October, when Tatis and Machado combined for two hits in 22 at-bats and San Diego scored only five runs across three games. It took one pitch Tuesday night to make this rematch feel different.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado immediately changed the tone

Tatis didn’t work his way into the game. He ambushed Matthew Boyd’s first pitch and sent it over the center-field fence.

Machado followed with another solo shot later in the inning. In the third, Tatis raced home from first on a Machado double that extended the lead to 3-0. It was power, pressure and chaos from the two players most capable of changing the entire mood at Petco Park. It was the moment and atmosphere Padres fans have been clamoring for. And it was only the beginning.

Xander Bogaerts turned on one and launched a solo home run in the fourth. Jackson Merrill punched a two-run single through the right side in the fifth. Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts and Merrill drove in six of San Diego’s seven runs.

It wasn’t the complimentary pieces bailing out the stars this time around. It was the guys who are responsible for determining how far this team goes. 

Role players can keep a season afloat and steal games. But October is different. The Padres learned that lesson the hard way last year. On Tuesday, their stars made sure it did not need to be taught again.

Michael King has become San Diego’s October tone-setter

Then there was Michael King who made a seven-run offensive eruption feel like the secondary story.

He held Chicago hitless over six innings, striking out six while allowing three walks. He finished his outing allowing just one hit over seven innings of work with eight total strikeouts.

This wasn’t King’s first dominant Wild Card introduction, either. He struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 in 2024. Across his two Wild Card Series-opening starts for San Diego, King has now delivered 14 scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts. He was an ace dictating his own terms.

This Padres team feels completely different behind the electric atmosphere in Petco Park. They clearly have enough talent to beat anyone. Their question has always been whether that talent would converge when the season became the smallest and the pressure became largest. Tuesday night has provided an emphatic answer to that question.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow