Cubs or Padres? Why?

[bm1090]

Have my thoughts but wanted to get a discussion going. Who do you want to play?

[82brewcrew82]

Cubs,  That Padres pen is shut down and they have enough offense to get to it.  Cubs have a very good offense but oooff, that pitching.

[Soupy]

I agree with 82. But both teams would be tough.

[long ball]

The cubs have the biggest weakness that I think we can take advantage of. I think they’re playing worse than the Padres right now. It’s fun to beat the cubs. Less travel. 
 

bring me Chicago. 
 

I think we can beat either, but either will be tough. 

[wallus]

Padres

[wildcat83]

Padres scare me.  Hot team with a good enough offense to score on our pitching.  You basically have to be winning after 6 or you’re screwed with the back end of that pen.

[Opening Day]

I'd rather it be the Padres solely because if this season were to end in the next round, the last team I'd want to lose to is the Cubs.  Can you imagine, 103 wins and get eliminated by the Cubs?  Even though the Brewers are better, anything can happen over 5 games.  And if they play good enough to win it all, they'll beat the Padres anyway. 

[Team Canada]

I get why people might choose the Padres, but if you're asking "who is the team you are more likely to beat," it's 100% the Cubs. Neither's starting staff is great, but the Cubs BP remains a disaster, and we've shown we can keep PCA in check.

We're not trying to get by on the fumes of Freddy Peralta and prayers, we have two legit aces and a darn good team. We shouldn't be afraid of either of those teams.

[Frisbee Slider]

I'll take the Padres. We got swept at Petco but two of the games were just by one run. Plus, our stadium is not likely to have thousands of people traveling from San Diego.

[MrTPlush]

Personally, I don’t really care. We are better than both of them solidly. If we lose it is likely because our guys slump…at which point the opponent hardly matters.
 

If anything I’d prefer the Padres simply because they aren’t going to fill up a chunk of our stadium and if we lose it isn’t to a rival.

[Frisbee Slider]

For September:

Brewers and Padres are both 18-6. Cubs are 11-13.

Padres have # 1 OPS. Brewers are # 3 OPS. Cubs are # 17 OPS. source

Brewers have # 7 ERA. Cubs have # 15 ERA. Padres have # 21 ERA. source

 

Cub fans at American Family Field and Wrigley are an important X factor. 

[BruisedCrew]

1 hour ago, Opening Day said:

I'd rather it be the Padres solely because if this season were to end in the next round, the last team I'd want to lose to is the Cubs.  Can you imagine, 103 wins and get eliminated by the Cubs?  Even though the Brewers are better, anything can happen over 5 games.  And if they play good enough to win it all, they'll beat the Padres anyway. 

This is where I am too. The Brewers are better than both teams and could lose to either team without it being a huge upset  

It’s not a matter of being afraid of either team, but just recognizing the reality that playoff baseball is a crapshoot and that in recent years most of the teams that have won 100 games or more have lost in the division series round. Losing in the division series round would be a huge disappointment, but losing to the Cubs would be especially hard to take. 

[owbc]

I'm biased since I live in San Diego...I want to see them come play here. 

Main rooting interest should be that the series goes 3 games and both teams burn as much pitching as possible. We have a massive advantage in pitching depth over either of them. 

The reality is also that even with our massive advantage there's still like a 30% chance of losing the DS, so if that's to the Cubs it would be pretty brutal. 

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

Head says Cubs. Heart says Padres.

I'm convinced the added emotion of it being the Cubs last year led to a bit of a hangover. Let's avoid that emotional stress and take out SD in 4. 

[Brian]

I would much rather play the Cubs... because in the last 20 games of the season the Padres are 17 and 3 and definitely on a hot roll right now.  The Cubs are backing into the playoffs and definitely the underdogs to the Padres in the series.  Also, our record history on the west coast is not that great even though we have home field. 

[BruisedCrew]

6 hours ago, owbc said:The reality is also that even with our massive advantage there's still like a 30% chance of losing the DS, so if that's to the Cubs it would be pretty brutal. 

Would the betting odds agree with the Brewers having a 70% chance of winning a 5 game series against either the Padres or Cubs. That seems pretty high to me. 

[adambr2]

“Please not the Cubs because it would be so awful to be eliminated by them” is the baseball equivalent of “I’m never going to ask her out because what if she turns me down?”

[Frisbee Slider]

37 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

“Please not the Cubs because it would be so awful to be eliminated by them” is the baseball equivalent of “I’m never going to ask her out because what if she turns me down?”

That’s fair.

At the same time, it’s easier to imagine Suzuki, Bregman, etc taking Miz deep in game 1 and having thousands of Cubs fans get loud. It’s happened in 2026, even though Miz has been very effective against Chicago.

It is more difficult to imagine Austin Hays or Gavin Sheets giving us fits.  Or, Padre fans wreaking havoc and turning the momentum in a game.

I recognize San Diego has plenty of stars, too.

[adambr2]

3 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

That’s fair.

At the same time, it’s easier to imagine Suzuki, Bregman, etc taking Miz deep in game 1 and having thousands of Cubs fans get loud. It’s happened in 2026, even though Miz has been very effective against Chicago.

It is more difficult to imagine Austin Hays or Gavin Sheets giving us fits.  Or, Padre fans wreaking havoc and turning the momentum in a game.

I recognize San Diego has plenty of stars, too.

I can understand that. I think logically, all recent history, the pitching matchups, etc point to the Cubs being the better matchup for us. We have no reason to fear them. We’ve been the better team lately and shown it on the field.

That said, if you want to argue “if their hitting gets hot they could be extremely dangerous” or “it might be like 5 road games if we get them again”, I can understand not preferring them. 

Just not “I’d be really bummed to lose again them.” Well okay, me too, but I’m not going to shy away from our hated rivals out of fear of that.

Probably my biggest fear against the Padres is close matchups favoring bullpens — usually those are in our favor, not always the case against San Diego. Even trailing late against the Cubs you always feel like you still have a chance to pull it out. Not so much against the Padres. 

[ErnieRilesBrianGiles]

Brewers' record vs playoff teams this year:

Dodgers - 4-3

Braves 3-3

Padres - 2-4

Cubs 9-4

Phillies - 4-2

Rays - 2-1

Guardians 2-1

Astros 2-1

Yankees 3-0

Red Sox 1-2

White Sox 3-0

WE WANT THE PADRES, BRAVES and RED SOX. TOTAL DOMINATION! "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!"

 

[Brewin]

I prefer the Padres only because the Brewers/Cubs are so familiar with each other. They have send Miz and Henderson so much over the season that it leads to very good at bats, and high pitch counts, for the most part. It's the same reason I give Philly, as poorly as they have played down the stretch, a decent chance to beat the Braves. 

I understand on paper the Cubs are probably the better matchup, I just like seeing a team not in your division if you have a choice.

 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Cubs. That pitching staff is atrocious. They are not playing great ball going into the playoffs. We have had good success shutting down their better hitters.  

[liveforoctober]

For this exercise I would rather play the Cubs. They have a fatal flaw.

But I will be shocked if San Diego doesn't win this series. In the 96 hours leading up to Gm 1 first pitch the Cubs will have flown Chi -> Boston -> Tampa -> San Diego. Since Sept 3rd the only time the Padres have left the state of California was a trip to Denver.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't care who the opponent is in any round, I just want to win the World Series.

[bucks2281]

Easily the Cubs. But I think the Padres will dispose of the Cubs in two games.