Expanding the playoff field and stretching to a three-game series rather than a de facto play-in game removes a bit of the anxiety, but Tuesday afternoon’s tilt with the Padres is still a big deal. The Cubs were the best team in baseball for a while before cooling off for much of the second half, but, unlike the Mets, they managed to hold onto their spot.
With one postseason nemesis already on ice, attention now turns to another. It was 41 years ago that the Padres played spoiler against a Cubs team that showed fans success was indeed possible.