The Chicago Cubs roster for their wild-card series is set.
Ahead of Tuesday’s Game 1 against the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field, the Cubs opted to carry 12 pitchers and 14 position players for the 26-man roster.
The roster breakdown:
Pitchers (12): Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Brad Keller, Daniel Palencia, Andrew Kittredge, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar, Michael Soroka, Aaron Civale and Taylor Rogers
Catchers (3): Carson Kelly, Reese McGuire and Moisés Ballesteros
Infielders (6): Michael Busch, Justin Turner, Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Matt Shaw and Willi Castro
Outfielders (5): Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker and Kevin Alcántara
Most notably, catcher Miguel Amaya was not included despite working to get back from an ankle sprain he sustained last month. Amaya was hopeful Monday he would be ready to go, but his lack of at-bats over the last four months due to an oblique injury that caused him to miss three months and then nearly sustaining an ankle injury in his first big-league game back made his inclusion a long shot.
Right-hander Javier Assad and left-hander Jordan Wicks both pitched in Sunday’s regular-season finale, which hurt their chances of being part of the wild-card roster as multi-inning relief options.
“In the next round, obviously we’ll have more decisions to make, and then certainly (Assad) will be under consideration,” manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday. “But we thought the regular season should best transpire for us, this is the roster that made the most sense.”
The Cubs have a taxi squad in Chicago in case of an injury during the series. That group includes right-handers Ben Brown and Porter Hodge and infielder Nicky Lopez.
Outfielder Owen Caissie, who has been on the 7-day concussion injured list since Sept. 14, had his best day on Sunday, “kind of a symptom-free day,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday. Caissie hit, ran the bases and made outfield throws during Monday’s workout and is on a good track.
The Cubs are going with their typical lineup against right-handers, with the Padres starting Nick Pivetta for Game 1:
- Michael Busch, 1B
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Ian Happ, LF
- Kyle Tucker, DH
- Seiya Suzuki, RF
- Carson Kelly, C
- Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Matt Shaw, 3B
As expected, Tucker is in the designated hitter spot again after coming off the injured list Friday for his first game action since Sept. 2 due to his left calf strain.
“He hasn’t been in the outfield for the last month of the season,” Counsell said. “The calf is still there a little bit. I think we’re more making progress. He had a very good day (Monday) and was in the outfield shagging for quite a bit of batting practice. But at this point still feel like this is our best alignment.”
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Originally Published: September 30, 2025 at 10:34 AM CDT