SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres have earned a wild-card rematch with the Chicago Cubs, and this time it will be at home in packed and raucous Petco Park.
Manny Machado and the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-7 on Saturday to wrap up the No. 4 seed in the National League playoffs. They'll host every game in a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the fifth-seeded Cubs beginning Tuesday. The winner will face the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-five Division Series.
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“The guys played great today and they’ve had a great season, and the reward is getting to play a couple playoff games at home," rookie manager Craig Stammen said. “So we’re excited about that. We don't have to pack our bags tomorrow and we can enjoy this one and then be ready for the playoffs, which is going to be the most important part of the season.”
The Cubs beat the Padres 2-1 in a Wild Card Series last year at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
“The Cubs are a great team. They kind of had their way with us when we went to Chicago this year. Played a couple close games here at home, but it should be a great series," Stammen said.
“It'll be highly contested. They're the ones that knocked us out of the playoffs last year so we'll have to bring our A game."
The Cubs took two of three games at Petco Park in late April and swept a three-game series in Chicago in late June and early July.
Machado hit a three-run homer Saturday, his 30th, and Xander Bogaerts also went deep for the Padres (90-71), who clinched their club-record third straight 90-win season and seventh in team history. They earned their franchise-best third consecutive postseason berth with a 4-2 win Thursday night at the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Saturday night’s crowd was 44,698, the 65th sellout of the season.
“Obviously, playing in front of our home crowd is going to be huge,” said Machado, who has eight 30-homer seasons — including four with the Padres.
“It's going to be great. It's home. Those guys bring it every single year. Come home and play how we always play in front of them. To start the postseason and start a run here at home, definitely exciting for sure.”
This will be the third postseason matchup between the Padres and Cubs.
In the 1984 National League Championship Series, the Cubs routed Tony Gwynn and the Padres in the first two games at Wrigley Field before San Diego rallied to win all three home games at Jack Murphy Stadium and take the best-of-five matchup 3-2.
The highlight for San Diego was Steve Garvey's walk-off, two-run homer in Game 4. The Padres won the next afternoon to reach their first World Series, where they lost in five games to the Detroit Tigers.
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