Chicago Cubs on the Verge of Another Clinch and Other Bullets

wrigley marquee featureToday, the Chicago Cubs can clinch a postseason series at Wrigley Field. For the first time. Ever.

  • Jorge Soler has reached based nine consecutive times to begin his postseason career, which is both incredible and a record.
  • It was not Jake Arrieta’s best night, though he’s set the bar so absurdly high, when he allowed even two runs in the game, it felt like a disastrous outing. It wasn’t a disastrous outing, although he actually wound up allowing four runs over his 5.2 innings. You can read Arrieta’s, Joe Maddon’s, and Miguel Montero’s thoughts on the game here. Arrieta had some nasty stuff at times (9 Ks), but he just wasn’t as sharp as he usually is.
  • For the record: Pedro Strop threw a clean inning last night against the Cardinals.
  • Yadier Molina’s thumb bothered him sufficiently last night that he had to depart mid-game. Mike Matheny says it’s still possible that Molina could catch today (CSN), which would be pretty significant, as we all saw on Friday how well he works with John Lackey.
  • Speaking of which, Lackey, who threw only 84 pitches in that game, starts on short rest for the Cardinals in a must win game. He pitched exceedingly well against the Cubs (with some strike zone help – but, hey, he still had to make the pitches), and pretty much went with the approach I discussed before the start. I offer that again not as a back-pat, but as a reminder of what he’ll probably try and do again today.
  • Ryne Sandberg threw out the first pitch yesterday, donning an Ernie Banks jersey. Then, a clip of Ernie Banks singing was played for the Seventh Inning Stretch. It was pretty special.
  • If you missed the Playoff Miscellany earlier, here you go. And also earlier: Addison Russell is dealing with a hamstring issue.
  • The win last night:
  • 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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