Padres and Cubs Set for Explosive Showdown: Which Sluggers Will Dominate Game 1?

The Padres are the fifth seed in the playoffs, but they shouldn’t be looked at as anything less than any of the other competitors that made the playoffs. They are a deep team with some elite hitters and a strong rotation. There is a bit of a concern for them with the team being on the road. The Padres are 90-72 for the season, which puts them 18 games over, but they are five games under on the road. That means they were very dominant at home, but they struggled when they left San Diego. They also tend to struggle against left-handed pitching. Today they send out Nick Pivetta to the mound to try and steal the opening game of this three-game set. Pivetta went 13-5 for the season with a 2.87 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. He also racked up 190 strikeouts, putting all of those numbers in the top-16 of the league. You really don’t hear much about him as an elite pitcher, but Pivetta has been very good for the Padres when available. The bad news for the Padres and Pivetta is that the team is very successful against him, hitting .302 against Pivetta. He also had an ERA a full run higher on the road than at home. He faced the Cubs twice this year and allowed four earned runs in nine innings. In his start against the Cubs at Wrigley, he allowed three earned runs on six hits over three innings.