Inside The Cubs

Taillon vs Rea: Who Will Andrew Kittredge Open For In Game Two Of Cubs vs Padres?

The Chicago Cubs have yet to release their starters for the Padres series.
Maddy Dickens|
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The playoffs are finally here for the Chicago Cubs. They have clawed through injuries and offensive ruts to make their first playoff since 2020 as they secured home field advantage for their series in the wild card against the San Diego Padres.

It seems that every other team that has made the playoffs has already established who is going to be taking the mound first in this series, but not the Cubs. The Cubs only last night announced their starter for the opener- Matthew Boyd.

After taking game one of the series the Cubs made a surprising move when they announced who is opening game two- Andrew Kittredge. Now the question is, who will he be opening for?

Boyd was the only player that was listed for the series so far, but looking at their final 26-man roster and the 12 pitchers that are listed it looks like it will come down to Colin Rea or Jameson Taillon. Depending on how tomorrow goes, they both could be coming out of the dugout this series with how Shota Imanaga has looked in recent outings

Whoever follows Kittredge in the opener will be tasked with trying to close out this series in a sweeping fashion.

Taillon vs. Rea this Season

Rea getting ready to release a pitch in a blue and white pinstripe unifor
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Rea and Taillon are dead even in wins this season (11) and losses (7), but Rea has posted four more starts on the year as Taillon spent significant time on the injured list in the second half as he dealt with strains to his calf and groin.

Taillon was supposed to be the go-to man after Justin Steele went down, but things don't always go as planned. The pitching staff has dealt with so many injuries and inconsistencies that it has been hard to count on anybody (except Cade Horton), but Taillon is back and he has been exceptional in his last few outings.

MORE: Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres: Who Has The Edge In Each Position?

The 33-year-old is posting an ERA under 2.00 in his last seven games (4-2 overall) with 28 strikeouts, eight coming in his last start alone against the Saint Louis Cardinals.

Rea is in his first season with the Cubs after signing a contract in free agency. He is posting an ERA under 4.00 in his last seven outings with 37 strikeouts, but has especially caught fire recently. In his last two turns on the mound he has a combined 18 strikeouts and a lone earned run.

It is hard to imagine that someone other than one of these two guys will be in charge of finishing this series out, but this is an interesting move to put Kittredge in as an opener. Looks like we will just have to wait and see what the ball club decides to do with a wild card victory on the line.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

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