San Diegans have no snow to shovel, but they do have Padres hitters to keep them humble.

Once again inducing moans of agony from Oceanside to Baja when the game mattered most, Padres hitters came up short Thursday.

The result: another exasperating defeat that booted them from the World Series tournament.

On a warm night in the Midwest, Padres hitters all too often looked like they were plowing water in a 3-1 road loss to the Chicago Cubs. They struck out 11 times. They spelled RISP as RIP, getting no hits in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The futility of Padres hitters in the Wild Card Series-ending performance recalled the offense’s failure to score last October against the Dodgers in the final two games of the Division Series, particularly the 2-0 defeat in the clincher.

This was worse, though.

The Cubs pitched fairly well, but not as well as the Dodgers did on a hot day in Los Angeles in the winner-take-all game.

This win-or-go home dud in warm Wrigley Field saw the Padres get no hits from four veteran mainstays: Fernando Tatis Jr. — who had a disheartening, brutal series — No. 3 hitter Manny Machado (who walked), No. 2 hitter Luis Arraez and No. 7 hitter Jake Cronenworth.

Did bad luck wreck Padres hitters amid the shifting winds at Wrigley, where the Cubs scored twice in the second inning and got a Michael Busch home run in the eighth?

Not really. The Padres, knowing better, won’t cling to that straw after they dive into the video.

Yes, Xander Bogaerts, batting after Jackson Merrill hit a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, was robbed of a well-earned walk by an ump’s bad call that dealt him a strikeout.

But the Padres weren’t hitting rockets into gloves. And they got a couple of fortunate ball-strike calls, but didn’t capitalize.

The bottom line is this: the Padres didn’t hit well enough Thursday night or in their Game 1 loss by the same 3-1 score.

I don’t know if they choked Thursday, but if Vanna White put a few of those letters on the wheel, I wouldn’t argue.

Costing himself a single leading off the fourth, Arraez made a mental mistake by pausing as he watched shortstop Dansby Swanson attempt to glove his soft liner. So when Swanson muffed the ball, he was able to throw out Arraez, who finished the series 2-for-11.

Arraez thus failed to heed a truism that manager Bruce Bochy and bench coach Rob Picciolo tried to impress upon the 1998 Padres: a ballplayer should never be surprised by what happens on the field.

Adding to Padres hitters’ frustration, the Cubs played clean defense and got gems from Swanson and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstong, who also had two key singles.

Across the three-game series, the Padres got several good at-bats from Bogaerts, who turns 33 this month.

Freddy Fermín had a nice series in the No. 9 hole. Adjusting better than several teammates did Thursday, Fermín cheated on a triple-digit fastball and pulled it for a double.

Coming into it, I said you should watch out for Merrill, 22.

Good enough to make me look smart, Merrill was the team’s best hitter in the series. He had two doubles and the home run, plus a sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt that worked — even if the decision was questionable.

Merrill protected Machado in Game 2, and the Cubs dealt Machado a favorable matchup. The Padres slugger turned it into a two-run homer that drove a 3-0 win.

But the highlights were too few from an offense that finished 18th in runs scored and 27th in home runs this year and lacked its third-best power hitter, Ramon Laureano, due to the broken finger sustained last month.

The harshest drag on the offense was Tatis never looking comfortable and not at all resembling the catalyst who lit up the 2024 postseason.

Batting first in all three games, Tatis had only one hit — a single — in 12 at-bats to go with one walk.

He looked jumpy. Instead of taking advantage of a small ballpark, albeit one that played big at times, Tatis had four strikeouts and three first-pitch outs.

Cronenworth went 0-for-11 with two strikeouts and never looked to have his rhythm. As the Dodgers did last October, the Cubs gave the lefty center-cut fastballs. But three of those went for routine outs.

With Cronenworth uncharacteristically drawing no walks and others doing likewise, the Padres reprised their weird habit of drawing far fewer walks on the road than at Petco Park, where pitchers sometimes seem to get rattled by the crowds.

The Padres needed to walk because of their lack of power, but they collected just five walks in the three-game series — and just one in Game 3.

Nevertheless, the Cubs almost blew the 3-1 lead.

Down to their final two outs, Cubs closer Brad Keller plunked consecutive hitters with 1-2 pitches. But Cronenworth hit a soft groundout against Andrew Kittredge. And when Fermín lofted the next pitch some 300 feet, it landed in the red glove of Crow-Armstrong for the final out.

Manager Mike Shildt, Machado and teammates looked from the dugout as the Cubs celebrated.

Padres fans had to feel numb, too.

But you’ll be back, won’t you, in late March when the Padres open the 2026 season at home against the Detroit Tigers?