Padres Suddenly Have Big Advantage Over Cubs in Wild Card Series

Horton, the odds-on favorite to win National League Rookie of the Year, exited his start against the New York Mets on Tuesday after experiencing tightness in his right-ribcage, and won't be able to come off the injured list until the fifth game of the NLDS, should the Cubs make it that far.

The Padres have never faced the right-hander, though they're lucky to evade him in the Wild Card series.

The 24-year-old has made 23 appearances this season, and has a 2.67 ERA through 118 innings pitched this season.His Pitching Run Value of plus-16 ranks in the 89th percentile in MLB, and he has been shutting offenses down since the beginning of July with a 1.36 ERA — the lowest by any starter with at least 40 innings pitched in that time.

The Friars and Cubs have been completely evenly matched this season, splitting six games early in the year with each team scoring 25 runs during those two series. The two teams haven't met in the postseason since 1984, when the Padres came back from a 2-0 series deficit to win the NL Championship Series 3-2.

The Padres are guaranteed to face the Cubs in the Wild Card round, but the question of whether or not they will have homefield advantage still remains up in the air. The Padres will have to win both of their remaining games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Cubs will need to lose both.

This will bring the teams level by record, however, the Padres possess the tiebreaker due to their better intradivisional record.

San Diego will look to inch closer to homefield advantage in the postseason in their second game against the D-Backs on Saturday, when Michael King takes the mound for the fourth time since returning from the injured list. King threw a scoreless five innings during his last outing against the Chicago White Sox.

The second game of the series begins Saturday at 5:40 p.m. PT.

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