The San Diego Padres were going berserk following Thursday night's 3-1 loss against the Chicago Cubs that eliminated them from the 2025 MLB postseason. The Padres trailed from the second inning on, but showed some life in the ninth inning thanks to a Jackson Merrill leadoff home run. Then, Xander Bogaerts was called out on strikes as he took a 3-2 pitch from Brad Keller that was clearly below the strike zone. Keller, who was in his second inning of work, then hit two consecutive batters before he was taken out.
The Cubs escaped the jam as Freddy Fermin just missed getting all of an Andrew Kittredge sinker that would have put the Padres ahead. Instead the Cubs won and the Padres let the home plate ump have it as the umpire crew exited the field through the visitor's dugout at Wrigley Field.
No doubt, the call in the ninth inning was brutal and every fan base would be waking up today still complaining about it. However, let's not pretend like San Diego didn't have huge calls go their way either. There was a Pete Crow-Armstrong stolen base that was overturned despite the Padres' defender blocking the bag at second and his tag pushing the Cubs center fielder off the base.
More importantly, there was a play at home in the seventh inning, when Nico Hoerner was called out, but there appeared to be replays showing he was actually safe. That call stood and the Padres kept the Cubs to three runs.
There's also everything else. I mean, in the three-game series the Padres as a team only had a slash line of .189/.243/.305, against the Cubs' pitching staff and when batting with runners in scoring position San Diego went 3-for-26, which included 0-for-8 in Game 3.
Manny Machado had the big two-run home run in San Diego's Game 2 win. That was his only hit in the series. Fernando Tatis Jr. was 1-for-12 and Luis Arraez went 2-for-11. Combined, the top-three batters in San Diego's lineup was 4-for-33, with eight strikeouts. Can't blame the umps for that.
