David Ross, who served as the Cubs' skipper from 2020 to 2023, was fired in November of the latter year when Chicago stole Craig Counsell from the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers. In two offseasons since, Ross has been passed over by teams looking for new skippers, and his third attempt to find work is about to commence.

Before a 3-1 win against the Padres, more than one Cub remarked that the warm weather didn’t really feel like postseason baseball. By the end, the whole place reeked of October.

CHICAGO – Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga spun around on the mound, grimaced and threw his head back, looking to the heavens. Manny Machado tossed away his bat and turned to his Padres teammates in the first-base dugout,

October is here, and the 2025 MLB playoffs are underway. The 12-team bracket is set, and the postseason got started on Tuesday with four Wild Card Series Games: Guardians vs. Tigers, Cubs vs. Padres,

• You can watch this Padres vs. Cubs game live for free with Fubo (free trial) or with DirecTV (cheapest streaming plans, $25 off your first month) or see more streaming options below. Padres ace Dylan Cease will be on the bump to start the game for San Diego, with Andrew Kittredge getting the nod for the Chicago Cubs.

Manny Machado watches his home run against the Chicago Cubs. The veteran delivers for the San Diego Padres! Manny Machado stands and watches as his massive swing launches a flyball out to left field. It lands way back in the stands for a two-run home run as Fernando Tatis Jr. also scores.

At FanDuel Sportsbook, Cease is set at over/under 6.5 strikeouts for Wednesday, with the Over priced +126 and the Under at -172. The model rates the Over 4.5 stars out of 5, as it projects Cease to notch 6.9 strikeouts.

But the win wasn’t comfortable until the final out. For most of the contest, Skubal and Gavin Williams were locked in a pitchers' duel. At the end of the sixth inning, the score sat at 1-1, and Skubal and Williams had each notched at least eight strikeouts.

www.si.com/mlb/cubs Eight Chicago Cubs Nominated For This Year’s All-MLB Teams Battery material company, Sila, is set to provide hundreds of jobs throughout the Columbia Basin as it aims to make Moses Lake the home of worldwide battery innovation.

Two years after the Cubs fired him to hire Craig Counsell, Ross "badly" wants to manage again. "It’s an itch that hasn’t gone away."