PCA, Cubs meekly exit playoffs after offense disappears in 2-game Wild Card sweep by Padres

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Chicago team that didn't have the pope on its side is heading meekly into the offseason.

Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Chicago Cubs came out to sunny San Diego and wilted like a tourist without enough sunscreen, swept out of the National League Wild Card Series by a San Diego Padres team eager for redemption and perhaps primed for a deep postseason run.

The Cubs lost 4-1 in Game 2 on Wednesday night at Petco Park to exit the postseason. They came in with the highest-scoring offense in the majors and head home having scored only one run on eight hits.

They were ushered out by the Reaper himself, San Diego’s All-Star fireballing closer Mason Miller who allowed Nico Hoerner's one-out double — the Cubs' only extra-base hit in the two games — before getting Carson Kelly to ground out to shortstop to end it. The No. 4-seeded Padres move on to face the NL Central champion and top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in an NL Division Series.

The loss by the fifth-seeded Cubs came several hours after the Chicago White Sox, who received a letter of support from lifelong fan Pope Leo XIV, swept the Houston Astros in Game two of an AL Wild Card Series.

The Cubs beat the Padres 2-1 in a Wild Card Series last fall at Wrigley Field.

Several Cubs players lingered along the dugout rail watching the Padres and their yellow towel-waving fans celebrate on a 69-degree night.

Players hugged inside the quiet clubhouse.

Crow-Armstrong, the frontrunner for NL MVP after becoming the first Cubs player to post a 40-40 season, struggled to find perspective while placing blame on himself.

“None of it feels good,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s it. So I’m just feeling pretty disappointed in myself, but that’s for me to work on.”

Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman, the Cubs’ 1-2 hitters, combined to go 0 for 15 with one walk and eight strikeouts. Crow-Armstrong had the walk in Game 1. Each of them struck out three times in Game 1 while Crow-Armstrong had a walk.

Asked how he'd process his performance, Crow-Armstrong said: “That’s not really for me to answer right now. I mean, yeah, you can look at the scoreboard, you can look at the stat sheet, wherever you get your numbers from, and it is clear to see that I didn’t contribute. So, that's not for me to feel about right now. I wouldn't process that well if I was.”

The Southern California native, who had 45 homers and 41 stolen bases, said the Cubs “showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight through all the challenge. But I mean, I would say to start, like, I show up. I show up when it matters in these games, you know? I think that would help us immediately, but that's all I got right now.”

The Cubs dominated the season series 5-1. The teams hadn’t seen each other since July 1, when the Cubs handed the Padres their worst loss ever, 23-3 at Wrigley Field as they hit eight home runs.

“The San Diego group, they threw the ball really well,” Dansby Swanson said. “They didn’t miss spots often, and if they did miss, it was in good locations. It’s a really talented staff. They game-planned for us really well and we weren’t able to get traction. We gave ourselves a couple of chances here and there, but, we weren’t able to capitalize and keep anything going.”

Said manager Craig Counsell: “You've just got to go play well and win games. In the end, we’re walking away unfulfilled and disappointed.”

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