Oct 1, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Robert Suarez (75) celebrates with teammates after the final out for the win against the Chicago Cubs in the ninth inning during game two of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images Matt Marton-Imagn Images

When Do Padres Play in Wild Card Game 3? All the Possible Times Revealed

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By Valentina Martinez | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 8:45 PM ET

The San Diego Padres have kept their postseason alive with a 3-0 shutout win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.

Now, the Friars will enter another win-or-go home situation Thursday in Game 3. However, there are updated game time scenarios for the matchup.

Updated game time scenarios for tomorrow:

If Yankees & Reds win:
Padres-Cubs play at 12:08 pm PT

If Yankees and Dodgers win:
SDP-CHC play at 2:08 pm PT

If Red Sox and Reds win:
SDP-CHC play at 3:08 pm

If Red Sox and Dodgers win:
SDP-CHC play at 4:38 pm
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) October 1, 2025

If the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds win Wednesday night, the Padres and Cubs will play at 12:08 p.m. PT (the originally scheduled time).

If the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers win, the Padres will play at 2:08 p.m. PT. If the Boston Red Sox and Reds win, the Padres will square off against Chicago at 3:08 p.m. PT.

If the Red Sox and Dodgers win Wednesday, the Padres play at 4:38 p.m. PT.

The Padres pitching staff shutout the Cubs in Wednesday's 3-0 win. Manager Mike Shildt heaped high praise for starting pitcher Dylan Cease and a trio of star relievers, who helped complete San Diego's strong performance on the mound.

"Yeah, clearly they were tremendous, back-against-the-wall scenario. I'm sure we'll get to Dylan, but Dylan deserves a lot of credit for getting us to where he got to and then Adrian came in and was just outstanding, really fantastic," Shildt said. "Really had a good idea we wanted to take him through from Armstrong through Tucker.

"The key to that was the efficiency of it. Adrian has been able to be really efficient this year. Clearly the outs helped. Then Miller picked up right of Suzuki, and he was fantastic to grab that seventh clean inning, and we were starting to figure it out and it was starting to be a little bit of a push but gave him the benefit of the doubt with Busch.

"But he did a tremendous job from there, I think eight consecutive strikeouts in postseason from yesterday as well, so that speaks for itself, pretty impressive. 104, we like that. Suarez was tremendous to bring it home.

"It was just a really nice baseball game on the Padres' side. Both sides really. It was a good baseball game."

Regardless the time at which Game 3 is set to take place, the Padres are evidently not ready to say goodbye to their season just yet. The Friars will need to replicate another strong performance Thursday to advance to the NL Division Series.