One team celebrated while the other got trampled, shift problems, failures and more Cub Balls

The greatest personal indignity of a match like that is how you feel the next day. That is, we all had to watch the Cubs get trampled AND we had to stay up really late to do it. So, I feel like shit on all fronts…

• The Cubs could turn things around with a win tonight, sure, but if they don’t, the season is over. This can happen so quickly in the Wild Card round, and you can’t afford two slams to open things up. Here’s hoping Kevin Gausman does better than Matthew Boyd.

• As for Boyd, it’s a shame that a season can feel like it all ends in one departure. Anyone can get a start where they just aren’t precise enough in their changeup. But when it happens in the playoffs, the magnification effects are real, especially when you’re facing an aggressive club that handles the bat very well.

• Also: Apparently Boyd didn’t throw a first-pitch changeup to start a game in two years. I think the Cubs didn’t think Tatis would look for him.

• Summary from Alex Bregman:

• And from Dansby Swanson (The Athletic): “They did everything right, and we did everything wrong. »

• Carson Kelly’s thoughts on the sequel (The Athletic): “This one leaves a little bitter taste in your mouth. But I have this saying: ‘We shower well.’ Once you go take a shower, it’s over and you move on to the next day. This is what we are going to do. There’s not much else you can do at this point, because it’s not like you’re adding a new player or finding a new pitch. The guys in the clubhouse just need to play a much better game tonight.

• It didn’t matter in the outcome of the match, but Pete Crow-Armstrong was called out twice for controls that were borderline at best:

• Given the leeway the ref gave the PCA to talk (and show), his mind tells me the ref had at least some questions about how close that second was. I suspect we’ll be implementing this swing check replay system at some point in the coming years to eliminate fretting (and note that, under this 45 degree system, these two wouldn’t even be close to a swing).

• The game wasn’t just about stomping on the scoreboard. There was also this feeling that it was a celebration for the Padres, who could do whatever they wanted. A starting pitcher who scores no hits in the 7th inning in the playoffs? Party. Homer after homer after homer? Party. Getting a beloved pitcher to throw the 9th when he hasn’t pitched in two years? Party. A wild run around the bases with a thrilling slide as an exclamation point? Party:

• Elsewhere in the Wild Card round, the Yankees beat the Red Sox, the Braves beat the Phillies late and the White Sox made Houston fans boo their own club:

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