Michael King just made the winter conversation louder, and the Chicago Cubs might be listening.
After carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning and finishing with seven scoreless frames in San Diego’s 8-0 Wild Card opener against Chicago, the Padres right-hander looked every bit like a pitcher ready to test the market again.
He is widely expected to opt out of the remaining years on his three-year, $75 million contract with San Diego, a deal structured with player options after 2026 and 2027.
A strong regular season and that postseason statement start give him leverage that was harder to claim a year ago.
Christopher Kline of FanSided listed the Cubs among the most logical landing spots if King does hit free agency, and the fit is easy to see from Wrigley Field.
The same Cubs club that just absorbed King’s masterclass is staring at a rotation that looked thin when it mattered. Injuries defined much of Chicago’s pitching year.
Justin Steele, Cade Horton, and Ben Brown are expected back in 2027, and Edward Cabrera could still rebound, but those are hopes more than guarantees.
Shōta Imanaga and Matthew Boyd are headed toward free agency. Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes arrived as deadline help and are not locked in. Even if the young arms return healthy, the Cubs have already learned how quickly a rotation that looks complete on paper can collapse in real time.
That is where King becomes more than a revenge narrative. He logged a career-high 185 innings this season with a 3.21 ERA and 1.18 WHIP across 32 starts. The appeal is not flash so much as reliability, the quality Chicago has spent the last year chasing.
Signing the man who just shut them down would also be a pointed bit of roster construction: take the weapon that ended a playoff night and put it in the next year’s rotation.
Other clubs will be in the mix. Atlanta needs dependable innings behind Chris Sale. Baltimore still has to finish a rotation that never quite lasted a full season. Toronto has shown it will spend for starting pitching.
Houston could use a second trustworthy starter behind Hunter Brown. Those are real competitors. None of them just watched King dismantle their lineup in October.
For the Cubs, the argument is practical. Depth is not optional after another year of injuries and rental arms. King would not solve every question about Steele’s elbow or Horton’s return, but he would give Chicago a veteran who has already proven he can work deep into games when the lights are brightest.
If he opts out as expected, Wrigley should be near the top of the list, not as a sentimental landing spot, but as a club that needs exactly what he just showed.
