The Padres dropped a winner-take-all Game 3 in the National League wild-card series to the Cubs on Thursday night. And while the Padres’ ninth-inning rally fell just short, the club may be left stewing all winter long about a different moment.
After a leadoff home run from Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill cut the Cubs’ lead to 3-1, shortstop Xander Bogaerts stepped up to the plate. Working the count full, Bogaerts took a 3-2 fastball on the lower outer half of the plate, a pitch he surely felt was ball four. But home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn called it strike three, leaving Bogaerts incensed.
Cubs relief pitcher Brad Keller proceeded to hit Ryan O’Hearn and Bryce Johnson on consecutive pitches, giving San Diego hope that they could potentially tie the game. But it was not to be, as Jake Cronenworth grounded out and Freddy Fermin flied out, ending the Padres’ season.
And the club’s players were still fuming about the called strike after the game, as the likes of Bogaerts and Jose Iglesias angrily confronted the umpires as they left the field and filed past the visitor’s dugout.
Yo holy shit #Padres reaction after the game to the umpires pic.twitter.com/Mw6475vUd2
— kyler (@padsfanatic) October 3, 2025
Two things. Number one, it doesn’t seem like the best idea logistics-wise to have the umpires’ only path off the field and back to the locker room take them past the visitor’s dugout. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Secondly, the Padres certainly have a right to be angry. The pitch seemed to be one that, had the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system been in play this season (it will be next year), could have been overturned to a ball. Plus, Umpire Scorecards, which uses MLB’s advanced pitch tracking data to rate the accuracy of home-plate umpires and the impact of their calls on games, determined that Reyburn’s called strike three was the most impactful missed ball-and-strike call in the contest.
But while the Padres and their fans have every right to be angry about the missed call, there’s something else that should make them even angrier. The likes of Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arraez, and Manny Machado, three of the club’s most productive hitters, combined to go 0-for-11 with three strikeouts and a walk in a winner-take-all elimination game.
