Getty Kwang-Hyun Kim will start Game 1 for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Padres.
The San Diego Padres (37-23) are in the playoffs for the first time since 2006, and they’ll square off against the St. Louis Cardinals (30-28), who are making back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since the 2014-15 seasons.
Game 1 will be televised on ESPN2, and Games 2 and 3 will be on an ESPN network. But if you don’t have cable, here’s how to watch a live stream of every Cardinals vs Padres wild-card game online for free:
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FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of ESPN, ESPN2 and 100-plus other TV channels on FuboTV, which you can use for free with a seven-day trial right here:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch the Cardinals vs Padres live on the FuboTV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the FuboTV website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Fubo credentials to do that.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 250 hours of cloud DVR space.
Vidgo
You can watch a live stream of ESPN, ESPN2 and 65+ other TV channels on Vidgo, which you can use for free with a seven-day trial:
Once signed up for Vidgo, you can watch the Cardinals vs Padres live on the Vidgo app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Vidgo website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Vidgo credentials to do that.
Sling TV
You can watch a live stream of ESPN, ESPN2 and 30-plus other TV channels via Sling TV’s “Sling Orange” bundle. It comes with a free three-day trial, but if you bypass that, you can get it for $20 for the first month (normally $30), and get Showtime, Starz, and Epix included for free:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch the Cardinals vs Padres live on the Sling TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Sling credentials to do that.
If you can’t watch live, Sling TV comes included with 10 hours of cloud DVR.
Hulu With Live TV
You can watch a live stream of ESPN, ESPN2 and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV, which you can try out for free with a seven-day trial:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch the Cardinals vs Padres live on the Hulu app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website.
You can also watch the games live via ESPN.com or the ESPN app. You’ll need to sign in to a TV provider to watch this way, but you can use your Hulu credentials to do that.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu with Live TV also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Cardinals vs Padres Preview
San Diego finished with the second-best mark in baseball in this shortened season, and they’ll host the Red Birds for all three games as a result. Their top starter this year, Dinelson Lamet, left his last start just three innings in due to a bicep issue, so his status for this series is currently up in the air. He’ll likely start on the the first two games, and if he’s not ready for Game 1, Zach Davies will likely get the nod.
The Cards already have their starting rotation mapped out should this series go to three games. Kwang-Hyun Kim will get the start in Game 1. Adam Wainwright will start in Game 2, and Jack Flaherty will take the mound for Game 3 if necessary.
St. Louis will be leaning on more than its pitching, however. The Cardinals are also looking to benefit from having more recent postseason experience than the Padres. “I’ve been in the postseason a lot of times,” Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina said this week. “If you get hot at the right time, you can do it. You can. You get in the playoffs, you can win it all. I think we can do that. If you play the game the right way, you can win it all.”
As for the Padres, they’re looking to continue what has been one of the better seasons they’ve had as a franchise in a long time.
“No matter how you unfold it, we’ve got some hard calls,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said about setting his lineup for this game. “But if we’re going to be a deep team, and if we’re going to be a team that makes a run at this, we’re going to need a lot of guys. And that’s been our story this year. It’s been a lot of different guys.”
Here’s a look at the projected starting lineup for the Cardinals:
1) Kolten Wong, 2B
2) Tommy Edman, 3B
3) Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4) Dylan Carlson, LF
5) Yadier Molina, C
6) Paul DeJong, SS
7) Matt Carpenter, DH
8) Dexter Fowler, RF
9) Harrison Bader, CF
And the projected starting lineup for the Padres:
1) Trent Grisham, CF
2) Fernando Tatis Jr., SS
3) Manny Machado, 3B
4) Eric Hosmer, 1B
5) Wil Myers, RF
6) Jake Cronenworth, 2B
7) Tommy Pham, DH
8) Austin Nola, C
9) Jurickson Profar, LF