Padres Announce Wild-Card Roster vs Cubs With One Massive Surprise

The San Diego Padres have announced their 26-man roster for this week's wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs, which begins Tuesday night.

The Padres decided to go with 15 position players and 11 pitchers. In a major surprise, right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove, who hasn't pitched in a major league game since the 2024 wild-card series, is on the roster.

"You always bet on Joe Musgrove in terms of the person and the stuff has been good," Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller said on 97.3 The Fan on Tuesday. "His opportunity to go and compete in a big spot, you trust him and want him to be a part of it."

AJ Preller joined @BenAndWoods to discuss the team's decision to include Joe Musgrove on the Wild Card roster: pic.twitter.com/rfrfBKDuBv
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) September 29, 2026

Here is the full roster the Padres will be using for the best-of-three series with a trip to the National League Division Series on the line.

Position Players (15)

Catchers (3)

Luis Campusano
Freddy Fermin
Ethan Salas

Infielders (6)

Miguel Andujar
Xander Bogaerts
Jake Cronenworth
Ty France
Manny Machado
Gavin Sheets

Outfielders (6)

Jase Bowen
Dustin Harris
Austin Hays
Jackson Merrill
Fernando Tatis Jr.
Samad Taylor

Biggest Decisions

The Padres decided to go with three catchers, and are expected to use all of them in the series. On Monday, manager Craig Stammen discussed the potential benefit of having three catchers on the roster.

"The benefit is how we kind of went the month of September with Ethan and Freddie and Campy," Stammen said. "We could interchange them. We could start all three of them at any point. We feel really good about our three catchers. I feel like those three are as strong as any group of three in the big leagues. They'll bring different skill sets to the table. Ethan's got the left-handed bat. Campy is kind of hitter slash can be a good catcher, and Freddy is more of your defensive catcher, right-handed hitter.

"All three of those guys could play a huge part in this wild-card series."

Elsewhere, the Padres elected to have Andujar on the roster and leave off Sung-Mun Song. Andujar hasn't played since July 19 due to a wrist fracture, but brings a strong right-handed bat.

Finally, Sheets is on the roster after returning from the IL in the penultimate game of the regular season. He homered in Game 162, a strong sign his bat is ready heading into October.

“I thought [Saturday] he was just getting his feet underneath him again, playing in a Major League Baseball game,” Stammen said on Sunday. “Then [Sunday], obviously had a home run, made it look like, ‘All right, he’s back to the old Gavin Sheets that we had.’ I think he feels confident about it, and that has given us a lot of confidence also to be able to use him in the postseason.”

Pitchers (11)

Jason Adam (R)
Walker Buehler (R)
Michael King (R)
Yuki Matsui (L)
Mason Miller (R)
Adrian Morejon (L)
David Morgan (R)
Joe Musgrove (R)
Nick Pivetta (R)
Robbie Ray (L)
Bradgley Rodriguez (R)

Biggest Decisions

Musgrove last graced an MLB mound in October 2024 during the team's wild-card series against the Atlanta Braves.

Nearly two years later, he's set to make his return in the 2026 wild-card series.

Musgrove underwent Tommy John surgery in October 2024 and missed all of the 2025 season recovering. He was set to return in 2026 but suffered one setback after another. As recently as this month, it was unclear if he would return at all this season.

Now, he's coming back for the postseason, where he'll work out of the bullpen.

Biggest Omissions on Padres Wild-Card Roster

Song is the biggest omission on the position player side.

As for the pitchers, the Padres elected to leave off left-hander Wandy Peralta and right-hander Randy Vasquez.

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