Another Playoff Day for the Cubs and Other Bullets

starlin castro smileThe Wife and The Little Boy perfectly encapsulated what it is to be a parent this morning in this brief exchange:

As The Wife turns on the blender to make a smoothie, The Little Boy shouts: “TOO LOUD! I CAN’T HEAR THE SHOW!”

Wife: “I’m sorry, but I have needs, too.”

Boy: “YOU DON’T HAVE NEEDS!”

  • If you missed the NLDS preview this morning, check it out here. The Cubs-Cardinals match-up is the teams’ first in the playoffs since the playoffs were a thing. Man, this is gonna be good.
  • Joe Maddon once again points out that the Cubs aren’t feeling any pressure right now (Cubs.com).
  • Kyle Hendricks gets the start tomorrow for the Cubs, and Joe Maddon says that it’ll probably be Jason Hammel in Game Four unless he’s used before that out of the bullpen (ESPN). In that case, I’m assuming that the Cubs would go with a bullpen game for that day … which really doesn’t concern me all that much.
  • Although no major changes are anticipated, Commissioner Rob Manfred does see the logic in one possible playoff change: re-seeding after the Wild Card Game (ESPN). In other words, in a year like this, where the Wild Card winner has far more wins than either of the other two non-top division winners, the Wild Card winner would not be forced to play the top seed simply because it was a Wild Card team rather than a division winner. Of course, if that were actually the case this year, I’m not actually sure I’d rather see the Cubs playing the Dodgers or the Mets right now.
  • Luis was in Pittsburgh for the Wild Card Game, and he extensively documented his experience in a really enjoyable read right here.
  • A great read from Matt Trueblood on how Chris Coghlan might not match up very well with the pitchers the Cubs will see in this series.
  • Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos gives the edge to the Cubs in the NLDS, which is almost certainly some kind of reverse mind trick.
  • The big news last evening if you missed it: the Cubs have reportedly signed Eddy Julio Martinez. I’ll have more on that today.
  • Talented artist:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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