The best offense in baseball took an hour and twenty-one minutes to record a hit off of Michael King last night.
San Diego’s ace dominated in his first career start against the Chicago Cubs. He struck out eight and walked three, but most impressively, he allowed just one hit, which came with one out in the seventh inning. Nico Hoerner’s 67.4 mph dribbler down the third-base line was all that Chicago mustered against King. The Padres cruised out to an 8-0 win, but King made his own headline in the process.
The right-hander carried the longest Postseason no-hit bid since 2019, when Washington’s Aníbal Sánchez went 7.2 hitless innings in the NLCS. King recorded 19 outs on 83 pitches, allowing only five baseballs to leave the infield.
His efficient success over a talented Cubs lineup was particularly special, considering the modern state of playoff baseball. Just earlier, Cam Schlittler tossed (another) gem against the Red Sox in the Wild Card. Just last year, Tarik Skubal struck out 14, 9 and then 13 batters in consecutive playoff outings. You can throw Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the mix too: his complete mastery over Toronto swayed the outcome of the series.
However, none of these superstar arms put together a hit column as quiet as King’s last night. He kept the highest-scoring offense in baseball from collecting a knock for over 70% of the game. Is baseball a sport of failure? Yes! Is that a normal rate of failure? Absolutely not, especially for the Cubs.
King of the Wild Card round
Michael King isn’t a stranger to Game 1 of the Wild Card. Braves fans watching his outing last night likely flashed back to the 2024 Wild Card round. In Game 1 of that series, King punched out a dozen Braves across seven scoreless innings. Although King allowed a leadoff single in that game, the feel was the exact same: lots of strikeouts, soft contact, and 21 outs with no runs allowed.
Combined, Michael King is scoreless across two Wild Card starts with a neat 20 strikeouts on his resume. While he had a shakier five-inning, five-run start in the 2024 NLDS, his overall Postseason resume is still pretty strong.
King’s success went beyond the scoreboard, too. Because San Diego’s offense delivered eight runs, the Padres were able to avoid using their top arms, Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon. In fact, his success ran so deep that San Diego hero Joe Musgrove was able to comfortably throw his first big-league pitches since October 2, 2024.
NBC’s broadcast showed King up on the top step supporting Musgrove throughout his return. It was the day after King’s gem in the 2024 Wild Card when Musgrove started Game 2 in what was his last MLB appearance — until just last night. It truly was a full-circle moment for King and Musgrove.
In all aspects, it’s tough to top the show that King hosted last night at Petco Park.
