The Chicago Cubs will host the San Diego Padres, beginning Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field in the opening round of the MLB playoffs. Matthew Boyd has been named the Cubs' Game 1 starter, while the Padres have revealed their entire starting rotation in case the series goes to a decisive third game. Nick Pivetta will square off against Boyd in the series opener, while a Cubs' killer will take the mound in Game 2.
Pivetta has been great for the Padres this year, leading San Diego's starting rotation with a 2.87 ERA over 181.2 innings. The right-hander posted 19 quality starts out of 31 games. Meanwhile, former Cubs' pitching prospect Dylan Cease is lined up to start on Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Cease has eight career starts against the Cubs and has an overall 2.47 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 47.1 innings. Those numbers have been even better following his first handful of starts against the Cubs when Cease was still with the White Sox.
Dylan Cease's Last 5 Starts vs. Cubs
6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 11 K, 2 BB
7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 4 BB
6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 2 BB
7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 12 K, 2 BB
5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 6 K, 1 BB (2025 season)
Cease's 2025 season hasn't exactly been his most dominant. He still struck out a ton of batters, ending the year 215 strikeouts, sixth most in MLB. He averaged 11.52 K/9, which ranked No.1 among all qualified pitchers. However, he also had a 4.55 ERA and struggled to go deep in games as Cease was only able to throw eight quality starts in 2025.
Despite the down year for Cease he did end it on a good note. The right-hander recorded a 3.12 ERA in his last five starts in September with his only bad outing coming against the White Sox, who scored four runs in six innings against their former pitcher. In his other September starts, Cease gave up a total of six earned runs in 20 innings
If the series goes to a Game 3, then another familiar name will go up against the Cubs in Yu Darvish.
The 39-year-old veteran returned from injury in July. Darvish made 15 starts this year with the Padres and had mixed results, posting a 5.38 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 72 innings. Darvish hasn't necessarily had many blowups, but he hasn't gone deep in the majority of his starts, failing to go beyond five innings since August.
Yet, San Diego doesn't really need their starters to go six or seven innings because the Padres' bullpen is elite. They finished the 2025 season with a 3.06 ERA, the No. 1 bullpen in MLB by a pretty good margin.
The Cubs haven't officially named the rest of their rotation for the Wild Card round, but it could very well be Shōta Imanaga in Game 2 against Cease. That would leave Jameson Taillon for a potential Game 3, unless Craig Counsell really shakes things up with an opener.
