The last 2026 Division Series that will get going is the best-of-five between the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee is back in the NLDS after securing the best record in the National League. The Padres, meanwhile, swept the Chicago Cubs to move to the NLDS.
Scheduled Starters & Start Times
- Game 1: Robbie Ray (Padres) vs. Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers)
- Game 2: Michael King (Padres) vs. Logan Henderson (Brewers)
- Game 3: TBD vs. TBD
- Game 4: TBD vs. TBD
- Game 5: TBD vs. TBD
Game 1 will be on October 3 at 7:30 PM CT/5:30 PM PT in Milwaukee. Game 2 is one night later at 3:00 PM CT/1:00 PT. After that, the series will shift to San Diego for two games. The third game would be on October 6 at 8:30 PM CT/6:30 PM PT, with Game 4 one night later at 9 PM CT/7 PM PT. A fifth and deciding game would fall on October 9 at 3:30 PM CT/1:30 PM PT.
All games are scheduled to air on FS1.
A Look at the Offenses
| Stat |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Runs Scored | 722 | 832 |
| Home Runs | 183 | 154 |
| OPS | .717 | .744 |
| Whiff% | 25.3% | 24.1% |
| Hard Hit% | 40.4% | 40.3% |
Throughout the second half, the San Diego Padres’ offense ripped through the Majors. And those bats did not go cold during the Wild Card Round.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado went back-to-back to start Game 1, setting the tone in a series in which the Padres slashed .328/.362/.563 in the two games against the Cubs. And aside from those two, Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill, and Ty France had four hits.
All five of those hitters were vital down the stretch for San Diego in the regular season.
The Brewers’ offense, meanwhile, is in a different position. While the club has home run hitters, Milwaukee only had 154 homers during the regular season, second-fewest in the Majors and only ahead of the Blue Jays.
And yet, the Brewers scored the second-most runs in the league.
Manufactured chaos is the correct term for the Brewers. Lots of contact, power thanks to the likes of Jackson Chourio & Christian Yelich, and speed. It’s been the theme of the Brewers for the past couple of years.
Chourio and Brice Turang headed into the postseason on a tear. The former notched 33 hits in September, one behind Javier Sanoja for the league lead. He slashed .337/.389/.531 with five home runs and nine extra-base hits.
As for Turang, he cracked 12 extra-base hits and posted a 1.078 OPS.
A Look at the Pitching
| Stat | | |
|---|---|---|
| Starters’ ERA | 4.42 | 3.61 |
| Relievers’ ERA | 3.53 | 3.40 |
| Strikeouts | 1315 | 1544 |
| Opponents’ AVG | .242 | .221 |
| Chase% | 30.2% | 30.4% |
The Padres’ bullpen was stellar for all of 2026, and that trend continued in the NL Wild Card Round. San Diego relievers were not charged with a run and struck out seven over 7.2 IP.
Not bad work at all against the Cubs, the team that scored the most runs in all of MLB during the regular season. Game 1 starter Michael King worked a no-hitter late into that game. Nick Pivetta pitched well enough to put Game 2 in the hands of Mason Miller & company.
Look, the obvious storyline here is going to be between the fireballers. However, one thing that the Padres showed on a national scale during that round is that there’s a lot more to this pitching staff than just Miller.
San Diego will send King back out for Game 2. In Game 1, Robbie Ray will look to set a tone. However, he’ll do so after battling a walk bug during the final few weeks of the year.
As for the Brewers, Milwaukee has a strong bullpen of its own. Much like the Padres, there are hard-throwers, there are different angles, and there are pitchers who did it in different ways. Like Trevor Megill, the power fastball/curveball pitcher who induced a lot of chase in September. However, he allowed a good amount of contact, leading to an ERA near 5.00.
Milwaukee went with the obvious choices to start the series. Jacob Misiorowski, arguably the best pitcher in the NL during the regular season, will now look to keep up the pace in the postseason. Logan Henderson was right there in terms of production over the past few weeks. A 2.45 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 22 innings in September for Henderson.
Our Prediction
This is another one of these toss-up series. But the Brewers proved that this club can get things done in October when Milwaukee ousted the Cubs in the 2025 NLDS. We’ll go with Milwaukee.
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