Bullpen shows wear and tear, San Diego heads to rubber match

It’s the sixth start of the year for Taillon, who’s off to a serviceable start to 2026. He owns a 4.55 ERA and 1.30 WHIP across 27 2/3 innings. He’ll take the mound today in hopes of giving the Cubs a series win. His only problem is that San Diego has *raked* against him. The club owns a combined .274 batting average and .719 OPS (79 AB) against the right-hander. After only scoring three runs off Chicago’s pitching staff yesterday, the Padres are hoping to find some slug this afternoon. There’s no easy way to say this, Matt Waldron has been awful. Opening this year, he owns a 12.46 ERA in 8 2/3 innings. He’s yet to go more than five innings in a start, and has authored an obscene 2.31 WHIP. Waldron’s knuckleball approach is simply not working anymore against opposing teams. Batters are raking against him with a .390 opponent batting average (16 H, 4 BB). The Friars will need him to limit Chicago somewhat tonight, or else they’ll need to make it a slugfest against Taillon in order to come out with a series win.

Batter up!

After Manny Machado’s Monday night exit with an apparent leg injury, he was out of the lineup yesterday. He’ll likely be back at the hot corner tonight though, putting Fernando Tatis Jr. back in right field after his stint at second base yesterday.

1. Ramón Laureano, LF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Jackson Merrill, CF
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Gavin Sheets, 1B
7. Nick Castellanos, DH
8. Freddy Fermin, C
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B Castellanos has had the most success against Taillon, with a .385 average and 1.077 OPS in 13 career at-bats. His bat has gone cold lately. If he can heat up against the righty today, it would put Castellanos on track to retain a roster spot with the big-league club. Tatis has a homer against Taillon. He’s still homerless to start the season and it would be great to ring out the series with his first of the year.

Relief corps

In what has been uncharacteristic (yet somewhat common in the last few days), Kyle Hart, David Morgan and Wandy Peralta gave up the game. The trio combined to allow six runs, giving the Cubs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The only good part about San Diego’s pitching was Ron Marinaccio covering the final two innings. He’s had a difficult last few outings, but pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning. Today, the Padres will have their high-leverage options in full force, with Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller and Bradgley Rodriguez. The quartet will surely be heavily used with Waldron on the mound. It would be a wonderful (and welcome) surprise if he were to have his first quality start of 2026 today for San Diego.