The Rundown: Counsell Masterful in Game 1 Win, Kittredge Opens Today, Elimination Day Arrives Quickly in Wild Card Series

“Well, we made a promise we swore we’d always defend, no retreat, baby, no surrender.”  – No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band

The Cubs have a new magic number after beating the Padres 3-1 yesterday and it’s one. Just one more win sets them up to play the Brewers in a best-of-seven grudge match. If you’re feeling overly optimistic, Chicago is 12 wins shy of winning the World Series, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Manager Craig Counsell is getting tons of well-deserved accolades for the way he handled his pitching staff on Tuesday. Matthew Boyd went 4.1 innings before Counsell turned to his bullpen. It’s hard to call something a trend after one performance, but it looks like Chicago’s second-year skipper wants to prevent his starters from facing batters for a third time. Daniel Palencia was electric replacing Boyd in the 5th inning, starting a string of dominant performances by the Cubs’ bullpen. Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge, and Brad Keller retired 14 straight San Diego batters to seal the win, with Keller earning the save.

In a bold move, Kittredge was announced shortly after the game as today’s starter/opener. The 35-year-old has opened 15 games in his career with an unsightly 5.26 ERA though opponents are slugging just .462 in those outings. I would have chosen Michael Soroka instead, but I’m not paid to make those decisions. Selecting Kittredge will be a great move if he holds the Padres scoreless or an epic failure if he doesn’t. Then again, Shōta Imanaga, who will likely pitch the second inning, has a 7.20 ERA in the first inning of his starts this season.

That begs the question: Won’t the second inning legitimately be Imanaga’s first inning? Yes, and no. His first inning of work won’t include at-bats by Fernando Tatís Jr., Luis Arraez, and Manny Machado, unless the Padres bat around, of course, which would present Counsell with all kinds of problems. Mike Shildt could counter by changing his order, though that seems unlikely. If anything, he’d probably drop Machado to cleanup. Then again, San Diego’s 4-6 batters, Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts, and Ryan O’Hearn, are very good hitters. Bogaerts had the lone RBI in yesterday’s loss.

The Cubs could render Counsell’s pitching strategy mute by opening up a can of whoop ass on Dylan Cease. Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly were big sticks yesterday with back-to-back homers in the 5th inning. Nico Hoerner plated the insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the 8th.

Chicago’s best option might/should have been to just go with its hottest starter, Colin Rea. Counsell was masterful yesterday, so we should give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be overthinking things just a bit, but if it works as successfully as we all want it to, the Cubs will be headed to Milwaukee for tilts with the Brewers on Saturday and Monday. I’ve already cleared my schedule to attend Game 2 of the NLDS regardless, but I’d love to see Chicago’s North Side Baseballers duking it out with their divisional rivals down the street.

Cubs News & Notes

• The 14 retired batters by Chicago’s relievers to end the game is a new playoff record.
• As a teenager, Palencia’s hero was Machado, but that didn’t matter yesterday. The Cubs’ flamethrower struck out Machado as part of a brilliant 1.2 innings of relief.
• The sound from Wrigley Field was so deafening when Suzuki hit his home run that it interrupted ABC’s broadcast.
• Suzuki’s 112.2-mph, 424-foot blast awakened the Wrigley crowd that had been waiting for any moment from their offense to cheer. Six pitches later, Kelly’s homer kept the party going.
• There is nothing better than daytime playoff baseball at Clark and Addison.
• Counsell leverages matchups and believes in “out-getters” as opposed to defined roles for his bullpen, especially during the playoffs. That’s why Palencia pitched middle relief yesterday and why Kittredge is starting today.
• Dansby Swanson made the defensive play of the game yesterday, and immediately credited his parents.
• Boyd, Suzuki, Hoerner, Michael Busch, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, and Cade Horton were named 2025 All-MLB nominees.
• Owen Caissie was named to MLB’s Prospect Team of the Year as a second-team outfielder.
• The Padres have scored just one run in their last 33 postseason innings going back to last season.
• Cease has had an up-and-down season but is still a tough matchup for the Cubs.
• David Ross is ready to hop onto this year’s manager carousel ($). This offseason, four jobs (Texas, Minnesota, San Francisco, Los Angeles Angels) already are open. Three more (Baltimore, Washington, Colorado) could become available if those teams decline to retain their interims. At least two others (Atlanta, Houston) also might be in play.

Ball Four

Babe Ruth allegedly called his shot on this day in 1932. That’s probably not true, but it makes a great baseball story nonetheless.

Rare film footage of Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" – World Series Game 3 at Wrigley Field – New York #Yankees vs. Chicago #Cubs (October 1, 1932)
~ So did "The Babe" call it or not? #MLB #History #Postseason pic.twitter.com/T4WsBLb4eN

— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) October 1, 2025

Wild Card Results

It’s elimination day for the losers of each of yesterday’s game. That was fast.

Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal struck out 14 Guardians batters in 7.2 innings of work in Detroit’s 2-1 win over Cleveland. Casey Mize will take the mound for the Tigers as they attempt to sweep the Guardians, who are countering with Tanner Bibee.

Garrett Crotchet retired 17 consecutive batters in a masterful performance as the Red Sox edged the Yankees 3-1. Aroldis Chapman almost gave the win away, loading the bases with no outs before retiring Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Trent Grisham. It’s up to Carlos Rodón to even up the series for the Yankees. He’ll face Brayan Bello at Yankee Stadium.

Sluggers Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández hit two home runs apiece as the Dodgers started their quest for back-to-back championships by thrashing the Reds 10-5. Cincinnati is sending Zack Littell to the mound to stop the Dodgers, who are countering with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Central Intelligence

• Milwaukee: The Brewers may be planning to bat Christian Yelich in the leadoff spot during the NLDS.
• Chicago: I know you can’t stop watching those back-to-back jacks by Suzuki and Kelly, because I certainly can’t.
• Cincinnati: Manager Terry Francona likes to refer to his team as cockroaches, saying opponents “can’t kill us.” He better hope the Dodgers aren’t using industrial strength RAID today.
• St. Louis: Chaim Bloom is now officially in charge, and he has a very lengthy to-do list this winter.
• Pittsburgh: An anonymous Pirates player recently lashed out at team owner Bob Nutting. “People think we’re underachieving,” he said. “Look around here. We’re playing to our potential. This is what $90 million gets you.” I’m thinking it was future Dodger Paul Skenes or Ke’Bryan Hayes, who was eventually traded to the Reds.

How About That!

The Angels dismissed manager Ron Washington and interim manager Ray Montgomery, who took over in June when Washington suffered through an unspecified health concern.

Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski is hopeful that he can keep his core together, but won’t elaborate beyond that generalization.

Mets fans have big concerns about the state of their team, and ex-big leaguer Mo Vaughn has answers, starting with outfielder Juan Soto.

Extra Innings

Swanson was the unsung hero in Game 1. Say what you want about his offense, but this is why the Cubs signed him.

Dansby with a dazzling catch to keep this a one-score game. pic.twitter.com/2ubXWrmnvT

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 30, 2025

They Said It

• “My mindset was just being aggressive because I’m the guy for that situation. I know they are great hitters, but I’m a great pitcher too. So it’s them versus me, and this time I won.” – Palencia
• “To me, that’s the outing of the game. [Palencia] throwing five outs in five hitters and going through the top of their lineup … the game made sense to me after that. Credit to [Daniel] for putting the game back together.” – Counsell
• “Look, roles are out the window. That’s why I’m using the word ‘out-getters,’ because that’s really what happens at this time of year. It’s: ‘How do we get 27 outs?’ That’s all that matters. That’s all that matters.” – Counsell
• “I mean, momentum’s a real thing, and for us to be able to kind of capture it in the bottom of the fifth there, and then for him to just go right out and go right at guys was definitely a big lift for us.” – Swanson
• “I think with the past week coming into this game, I feel like there’s been a playoff switch that’s been turned on. With today, it’s not just me; I think that homer was just the result of all my teammates being there and supporting me, all the fans. I think everybody was involved in that.” – Suzuki
• “You dream about those moments as a little kid. Getting into the postseason and hitting the game-winning home run, right? To have that happen today is really an honor.” – Kelly
• “It’s an itch that hasn’t gone away.” – Ross

Wednesday Walk-Up Song

One more win and the Cubs will advance for the first time since 2017. Stay strong.