The Padres have decided on the 26 players they’ll use to try and win the best-of-three National League Wild Card series that starts on Tuesday at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The final tally is 14 position players and 12 pitchers:
- RHP (10): Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish, Jeremiah Estrada, Michael King, Mason Miller, David Morgan, Nick Pivetta, Bradgley Rodriguez, Robert Suarez, Randy Vásquez
- LHP (2): Adrian Morejon, Wandy Peralta
- C (3): Luis Campusano, Freddy Fermin, Martín Maldonado
- INF (7): Luis Arraez, Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth,Jose Iglesias,Manny Machado, Mason McCoy, Ryan O’Hearn
- OF (4): Bryce Johnson, Jackson Merrill, Gavin Sheets, Fernando Tatis Jr.
Interestingly, the Friars are keeping three catchers on the roster for a short series and none of them is Elias Diaz, who’s become Nick Pivetta’s personal catcher. He injured an oblique muscle on Saturday and is not ready to go yet so Freddy Fermin will do a bulk of the work behind the plate. Luis Campusano and Martin Maldonado will serve as right-handed bat options off the bench because the Friars tend to skew a little lefty heavy.
In fact, their Game 1 starting lineup against Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd features five left-handed hitters. Padres manager Mike Shildt is going with his best bats instead of playing matchups, which is a wise decision in the playoffs. The full order for Tuesday looks like this:
1) Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2) Luis Arraez, 1B
3) Manny Machado, 3B
4) Jackson Merrill, CF
5) Xander Bogaerts, SS
6) Ryan O’Hearn, DH
7) Gavin Sheets, LF
8) Jake Cronenworth, 2B
9) Freddy Fermin, C
SP Nick Pivetta