ARCHIVE April 29, 2026
April 29, 2026 · NL West

Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres

April 29, 2026Petco ParkSunny 70°F · 13 mph, L To R
AWAY
Chicago Cubs
19-12
5
vs
HOME
San Diego Padres
19-11
4

Starting pitchers

AWAY · CHC
Jameson Taillon
Jameson Taillon
IP 7
HOME · SD
Matt Waldron
Matt Waldron
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · CHC
  1. 1 Nico Hoerner SS
  2. 2 Moisés Ballesteros DH
  3. 3 Alex Bregman 3B
  4. 4 Ian Happ LF
  5. 5 Michael Busch 1B
  6. 6 Michael Conforto RF
  7. 7 Matt Shaw 2B
  8. 8 Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
  9. 9 Miguel Amaya C
HOME · SD
  1. 1 Jackson Merrill CF
  2. 2 Fernando Tatis Jr. RF
  3. 3 Manny Machado DH
  4. 4 Xander Bogaerts SS
  5. 5 Ty France 1B
  6. 6 Miguel Andujar 3B
  7. 7 Jake Cronenworth 2B
  8. 8 Nick Castellanos LF
  9. 9 Luis Campusano C

Box score

  123456789 R
CHC 010201010 5
SD 000030010 4

Manager comparison

Both managers grade C / B entering this matchup.

AWAY · CHC
Craig Counsell
C Lineup 1.7 R Bunts 0.4 R IBBs 0.3 R
HOME · SD
Craig Stammen
B Lineup 0.8 R Bunts 0.4 R IBBs 0.2 R

Recent form

AWAY · CHC
10-0 W10 +27 run diff
WWWWWWWWWW
HOME · SD
4-6 L1 -6 run diff
LWWLWLLLLW

Season series: 2-1 with CHC listed first across 3 prior meetings.

Tactical analysis

RunsLeft separates manager decisions from player execution from game variance. Each card below is the same three-number framework that drives the share cards on the SPA replay page.

AWAY · Chicago Cubs
  • Manager lineup cost +0.00 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.85 vs actual lineup 4.85
  • Player execution +0.15 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.85 projection by 0.15 (scored 5)
  • Game variance +0.15 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Shaw HR from the 7-hole

HOME · San Diego Padres
  • Manager lineup cost +0.02 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.94 vs actual lineup 3.92
  • Player execution +0.08 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.92 projection by 0.08 (scored 4)
  • Game variance +0.06 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Merrill 0-for-3 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.8 – 3.9 — actual was 5 – 4.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. Tactical analysis comes from a per-game Monte Carlo: 10,000 simulated games against the opposing starter's ERA, both for the actual lineup the manager wrote and for the optimal arrangement of those nine players. The three numbers — manager cost, player execution, game variance — separate which part of the result was the lineup, the players, or the dice.

Read the full methodology.