The Chicago Cubs took down the Braves last night, which means good things can happen when you watch the scoreboard …
A big four-game series started in Pittsburgh, with the Pirates beating the Giants 4-0. It’s another one of those situations where I can go both ways on which team I want to see win (in the end, I think I’d want to see a split), but it’s nice to see the Cubs’ Wild Card lead over the Giants increase to 4.0 games.
The Cubs, then, remain 4.0 behind the Pirates for the top Wild Card spot.
The Cardinals were off yesterday, so the Cubs moved back to 8.5 games behind them in the Central. It’s going to take an epic collapse by them (and a mini collapse by the Pirates) for the Cubs to come back, and that’s assuming the Cubs play exceptionally well the rest of the way.
The Giants are still just 2.5 games back in the NL West, so keep an eye on the Dodgers, who could wind up in the Wild Card race, and who would presently be 1.5 games behind the Cubs.
The Nationals lost again last night to fall back to .500 (lots of folks are going to lose their jobs there in the offseason, I suspect, fair or unfair). They’re 4.0 games back of the Mets in the East, and 8.5 games back of the Cubs for the final Wild Card spot.
The Giants and Pirates continue their series this evening, and the Cardinals head out west to play the Padres tonight.