NEWSLETTER
So last night was … good? Bad? Probably fine? Yeah, it’s mostly that last one.
The Cubs clinched their first postseason berth IN TWO WHOLE YEARS thanks to the Phillies getting swept in their doubleheader against the Nationals. That means, now, even if the Cubs lose every single game the rest of the way, they will at least slip into the postseason as one of the two Wild Card teams. Not that I’m rooting for it, but it sure would be hilarious for the Cubs to so epically collapse that they lose every game from here on out, get in as the second Wild Card, face the Dodgers in that opening round … and beat them. I’d chuckle.
But that’s extraordinarily unlikely to happen. We’re still focused primarily on the Cubs winning the NL Central, for which the Cubs did themselves no favors by losing to the Pirates, and also got no help this time around from the Royals. The Cardinals shut them out last night 5-0, keeping the Cubs’ magic number at 4, and tightening things back up slightly in the Central:
Nice to see that little ‘x’ there for the Cubs, eh?
Get this: thanks to the records and the tiebreakers, right now, *BOTH* of the Wild Card spots in the National League belong to NL Central clubs (the Reds and the Brewers). Tight division.
The Reds and Brewers wrap up their series today, as do the Cardinals and Royals. The Cubs get two more cracks at the dreadful Pirates, and it would be nice to win them both to have a shot of clinching the Central before that final series against the White Sox.
