After dropping both games of Friday’s doubleheader, the Cubs are close to opening the Wild Card Series on the road, with their offense struggling at the worst possible time.
A disappointing doubleheader on Friday could cost the Chicago Cubs more than momentum heading into the postseason.
After losing both games against the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 and 2-0, Chicago sits at 88-73 and is on the cusp of losing home-field advantage for the National League Wild Card Series.
As the Cubs showed in 2025, there’s a lot of value in playing playoff games at Wrigley Field. They beat the San Diego Padres at home in the Wild Card Series before falling to the Milwaukee Brewers in five games in the NLDS.
Still, Chicago went 2-0 at home and 0-3 on the road against Milwaukee. But the Cubs may not get that same home-field advantage in 2026.
Even with the Padres losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, Chicago remains 1.5 games behind San Diego with only one game left in its regular season. The Cubs have played one more game than the Padres after Friday’s doubleheader, which was forced by the nor’easter that prevented them from playing in Boston.
The Cubs and Red Sox will play their regular season finale at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Sunday afternoon. If the Cubs lose, or the Padres win either of their final two games against the Diamondbacks, Chicago will be on the road for the Wild Card Series.
That could mean a trip to Petco Park to face the San Diego Padres or to Truist Park to take on the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs could still end up as the No. 6 seed, depending on how the Philadelphia Phillies finish the season.
The Cubs fared better against the Padres (5-1) than they did against the Braves (3-3) in 2026. But facing Atlanta would allow Chicago to avoid the Milwaukee Brewers until at least the NLCS. Cubs fans probably like their chances more against a banged-up Dodgers team right now than they do against the red-hot Brewers.
Either way, even more frustrating is the way the Cubs have finished the season. They’re 12-17 over their last 29 games and 10-13 in September. They’ve scored just nine runs over their last five games. In the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, the offense was shut down by subpar pitching, including 22-year-old Jedixson Paez, who entered with an 18.90 ERA and threw five scoreless innings.
Anything can happen in the postseason. But with the offense in a massive slump and the Cubs on the cusp of losing home-field advantage for the Wild Card Series, they’ll have their work cut out for them next week.
