N&N: Michael King allows 1 (infield) hit to league-best Cubs offense

Sep 29, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King (34) pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning during game one of the Wildcard round for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect 4 Wild card games yesterday. In chronological order:

class="wp-block-paragraph">Braves 5, Phillies 3

class="wp-block-paragraph">• Chris Sale and Jesús Luzardo were both good. Luzardo’s bullpen let him down big time. Because his bullpen has been so bad this season, Phils manager Don Mattingly put Jhoan Duran out there for a 9-out save. He did not get 9 outs. Duran got Will Brennan’d by Austin Riley, who hit a 3-run homer off him in the middle of his second inning of work. There ended up not being a 9th inning for PHI to pitch, because they did nothing in the top of the 9th and lost.

class="wp-block-paragraph">White Sox 6, Astros 3

class="wp-block-paragraph">• I’m gonna be a bit dramatic here and say the Astros didn’t really respect their opponent heading into this game. The White Sox have many flaws, but their hitters are both pesky and good. Houston apparently thought they could pepper them with garbage relief arms and succeed. This bullpen game strategy did not work one bit for Houston, who probably should have given up 13 runs. CWS could not really hit with RISP which kept this one way closer than it should have been.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Yankees 9, Red Sox 0

class="wp-block-paragraph">• Payton Tolle pitched well. The Boston bullpen behind him got shelled. We expected the Sox bullpen to stink this week—we thought those socks would be White.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Padres 8, Cubs 0

class="wp-block-paragraph">• The Cubs have baseball’s best offense and worst pitching. Only the latter individuals showed up Tuesday night. The Padres looked awesome in this game. Michael King was so good that they only needed to score 1 run, which they had 1 batter into the game. King allowed just 1 hit, an infield ground ball to Manny Machado whose attempt at making a spectacular play… didn’t happen.

class="wp-block-paragraph">And now something fun: