Seiya Suzuki’s bat is roaring to life at exactly the right time.

Slumping for almost the entire second half, Suzuki put on a power-hitting show in the regular season’s last days, reestablishing himself as a fearsome middle-of-the-order presence with five home runs in the Cubs’ last four games.

“He’s one of the best hitters in baseball,” left fielder Ian Happ said, “one of the most beautiful right-handed swings in the game.”

Suzuki’s trip to the bleachers Sunday helped the Cubs to a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals that locked in a 92-70 record. An opening-round, best-of-three series with the Padres begins Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

“With the next few games, [it’s about] getting into the box, rebuilding that confidence back up, get that confidence going, then bringing that into the postseason,” Suzuki said on the team’s most recent road trip. “When I was reflecting through the whole season, there were times when I’d step up in the box [with] low confidence.

“For me, the biggest thing is regaining that, then bringing that into the postseason.”

Mission accomplished.

Suzuki is heading into the postseason looking like a different hitter than the one he was for much of the second half. In his first 53 games after the All-Star break, he hit .200 with only two homers. In the last six games, he hit .318 with five homers.

“It’s great to have a player that goes in with a ton of confidence,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He struggled for a bit of the second half, for a pretty good portion of the second half. But he picked it up at a good time. . . . He’s definitely entering the postseason in a very confident place.”

“It’s a great sight,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said, “seeing him get back in rhythm, seeing him exude some confidence and be the player we all know that he is.”

Suzuki wasn’t alone in experiencing an 11th-hour resurgence ahead of the playoffs. Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong also cooled off after an MVP-caliber first half. He has come back to life of late, too, and the Cubs’ offense is looking like it did before the break.

That’s good news as they look to make a deep October run.

“The recent couple of games, the offense is back to where it should be,” Suzuki said Sunday. “Going into the playoffs, everybody has that confidence, especially the offense right now. Hopefully, we can use that as a strength in the playoffs.”

Ballesteros behind the plate

Rookie slugger Moises Ballesteros got his first big-league action as a catcher for six innings before moving to first base. It was only his second major-league game playing the field; he subbed in at first base Friday.

Ballesteros is obviously here for his bat and has seen regular playing time as a designated hitter over the season’s last couple of weeks. But Counsell wanted to make sure that Ballesteros wasn’t completely cold in case he’s needed in the field during the postseason, as unlikely as that might be.

Playoff game times set

The first two games of the Cubs’ series against the Padres will start at 2:08 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Game 1 and Game 2 will air on ABC 7. All games in the best-of-three series will be played at Wrigley Field.