SAN DIEGO — The Chicago Cubs roster for their National League wild-card series doesn’t feature many surprises.
The 26-man roster, announced before Game 1 on Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres, largely consists of the group they have relied on in the second half.
The Cubs opted for 12 pitchers in the best-of-three series, with the most notable exclusions being lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar and right-hander Edward Cabrera.
Cabrera had been placed on the family medical emergency list Friday but was activated Monday. He showed flashes of promise out of the bullpen in the last two weeks of the season, coupled with inconsistency, and allowed five runs in four innings.
Infielder Gabriel Arias is on the roster to give the Cubs a defensive backup if needed and a potential pinch runner.
Manager Craig Counsell said the Padres’ position-player group, and how the Cubs expect them to deploy their bench, made it tough to see a fit for Thielbar.
“They’re going to pinch hit for certain guys for sure, and just didn’t see necessarily pockets, Counsell explained. “You can’t cover everything in these scenarios. You get 26 guys, and in terms of how we put it together, we probably covered more of a crazy game or a crazy series in terms of length of pitching and how we chose things, and then we protected our injury kind of downside a little bit too.”
Arias fits in the latter category. With Alex Bregman starting the series as their designated hitter, the 26-year-old gives them more balance with another defensive outfielder.
Here’s the full roster breakdown:
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Pitchers (12): left-handers Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, David Peterson and Ryan Rolison and right-handers Clay Holmes, Kevin Gausman, Daniel Palencia, Aaron Civale, Jacob Webb, Colin Rea, Javier Assad and Ryan Zeferjahn.
Catchers (2): Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya.
Infielders (7): Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Pedro Ramírez, Matt Shaw and Gabriel Arias.
Outfielders (5): Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Conforto and Tyrone Taylor.