Baseball's top-scoring offense vanished in a historic Wild Card collapse, setting a record-low slugging percentage as San Diego’s dominant pitching silenced Chicago’s stars in a two-game sweep.
The Chicago Cubs had a quick postseason exit.
The Cubs were swept by the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Round. The Padres took care of business in Game 1 by winning 8-0 and then won 4-1 in Game 2 of this series. After just two games, Chicago’s postseason ended.
This was obviously a disappointing series for the Cubs on so many different levels. Despite dealing with injuries to Justin Steele, Cade Horton, and Ben Brown, this team had the talent to make a deep postseason run.
Although the pitching was suspect at times, the Cubs' offense was legit. They were the best offense in baseball in the regular season and averaged a league-high 5.19 runs per game. That offense carried this team for most of the summer.
The eventual National League MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong had a career year at the plate. Alex Bregman was one of the best hitters in the sport in the second half. Nico Hoerner batted over .300 after the All-Star break, and Seiya Suzuki had 29 extra-base hits in the final 2 ½ months.
But when it mattered most, the Cubs offense didn't show up.
In Game 1, the Cubs were shut out and held to just three hits. They didn’t tally their first hit until one out in the seventh inning and didn’t have a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning when the game was already out of reach.
In Game 2, the Cubs tallied just one run on five hits. They couldn’t come through and deliver in big spots. Dansby Swanson struck out with runners on first and second and nobody out in the third inning, and Matt Shaw struck out with runners on first and second and one out in the fourth inning.
In this quick two-game series, the Cubs went 8-for-62 (.129 batting average) as a team with only one extra-base hit, one run, and 19 strikeouts. Crow-Armstrong and Bregman also combined to go 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts across those two contests.
This poor offensive showing in the Wild Card Round puts the Cubs on the wrong side of history.
Their .145 slugging percentage is the lowest in a multi-game postseason series in MLB History (OptaSTATS). This .145 slugging percentage is lower than the Minnesota Twins’ .153 slugging percentage in the 2020 American League Wild Card Round.
The Padres also became the first team in MLB history to hold the highest-scoring team in the regular season to just one run in a multi-game postseason series (OptaSTATS).
This was no doubt an all-around bad offensive series. It’s honestly a major reason why Chicago’s postseason ended so quickly. This group couldn’t slug the ball against this Padres pitching staff, and when the Cubs don’t hit home runs, things often go sideways.
According to ESPN Insights via Jesse Rogers, the Cubs haven’t won a game without a home run since July 30th. They’ve lost 15 straight games without a home run, which is the longest streak in baseball.
The Cubs offense simply didn’t show up in this series.
