If the damn Cardinals hadn’t gone so cold over the last couple weeks, the Cubs’ weekend losses to the Phillies almost certainly wouldn’t have bothered me as much. The Cardinals opened the door juuuuust enough to allow for hope. They probably did it on purpose just to troll Cubs fans.
The Cardinals won yesterday, though, whooping the Reds, and going up by 6.5 on the Cubs. I’ll still allow that it’s possible the Cubs could pull off a miracle, but it might require them winning at least six of their seven remaining games against the Pirates, and it would definitely require them sweeping the Cardinals this weekend.
Speaking of the Pirates, they were down 6-1 to the Brewers yesterday, but the Brewers didn’t become the Brewers by hanging onto huge leads. So they blew it, and the Pirates won the game in extra innings. They’re 4.0 games up on the Cubs now, and 2.5 back of the Cardinals.
The Giants also won yesterday, so they’re now just 7.5 games behind the Cubs for the second Wild Card spot. That’s still a pretty healthy lead.
If I knew for absolute, 100% certain that the Cubs weren’t going to pass the Cardinals, and that the Cubs weren’t going to get passed by the Giants, I can’t lie: there’s a chance I wouldn’t hate to see the Cubs lose to the Pirates this week so that the Pirates can pass the Cardinals. I prefer the Wild Card match-up against the Cardinals, rather than Gerrit Cole and the Pirates.
HOWEVA, since we don’t know for sure that the Cubs can’t pass the Cardinals, we don’t know for sure that the Giants can’t pass the Cubs, we don’t know for sure that the Pirates could pass the Cardinals even if they beat the Cubs, and also, because we’d rather see the Cubs play the Wild Card Game at Wrigley Field if that’s where they wind up, I will very much be rooting for the Cubs this week. Hard.