San Diego Padres Wild Card Series

How the Padres got through the 2026 MLB Wild Card round — the matchup, the results, how the round works, and every Wild Card series the Padres have played.

The Padres Swept the Cubs at Petco Park

Petco Park hosted the entire best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs, a rematch of the 2025 series that ended the Padres’ season at Wrigley Field. This time San Diego won it in two straight games and never really let Chicago into the series.

• Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 29 — Padres 8, Cubs 0. Fernando Tatis Jr. homered in the first inning, and the Padres shut out Chicago from there.
• Game 2: Wednesday, Sept. 30 — Padres 4, Cubs 1. Gavin Sheets hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the fifth. The bullpen took over after the Cubs chased Nick Pivetta in the fourth, and Nico Hoerner’s RBI single was Chicago’s only run of the series.
• Game 3: Not needed.

The sweep sent the Padres to the NL Division Series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers, beginning Saturday, Oct. 3.

How the Wild Card Round Works

Each league sends six teams to the postseason — three division winners and three Wild Cards. The top two division winners by record get a bye straight to the Division Series. Everyone else — the third-place division winner plus all three Wild Card teams — is seeded 3 through 6 and plays in the Wild Card round.

The matchups are fixed: the #3 seed hosts the #6 seed, and the #4 seed hosts the #5 seed. Both are best-of-3 series, and — this is the part that catches people off guard — every single game is played at the higher seed’s ballpark, even if the series goes the full three games. There’s no split, no traveling back and forth. MLB doesn’t reseed after this round either; the winners advance to face whichever top-two seed their bracket slot points to.

This is a newer format. From 2012 through 2021, the Wild Card round was a single win-or-go-home game. The best-of-3 series arrived with the 12-team expansion in 2022.

Padres in the Wild Card Round

2020: Won 2-1 over the Cardinals at Petco Park — the franchise’s first home postseason series win, after losing Game 1 before taking Games 2 and 3. No fans were permitted to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions.

2022: Won 2-1 on the road over the Mets, advancing to face the Dodgers in the NLDS.

2024: Swept the Braves 2-0 in a two-game series.

2025: Lost 2-1 to the Cubs, all three games played at Wrigley Field.

2026: Swept the Cubs 2-0 at Petco Park (8-0, 4-1), advancing to face the Brewers in the NLDS.