The Cubs won again last night, topping the Reds 9-3 for their fifth straight win. On the strength of that win, and the rest of the results in the NL, there was some more movement in the standings – relative to the Cubs, that is.
First, in the NL Central, the Brewers fell to the Giants 4-2, dropping them 3.5 games behind the Cubs, who now have their largest lead of the year. In the loss column, the Brewers now trail the Cubs by five games.
The Cardinals also trail the Cubs by five games in the loss column despite a 6-2 win over the Padres. The Cardinals pulled up to within a game of the Brewers, but they’re 4.5 games back of the Cubs.
Meanwhile, the Cubs are not currently in the Wild Card race – and we hope they don’t enter into it – but if they were, it was a very good night. The Diamondbacks lost 4-2 to the Mets, and the Rockies blew a late lead to the Royals. They are still the top two teams in the Wild Card standings, but the Cubs actually now have a half-game better record than the Rockies, and are essentially tied with the Diamondbacks, though the Cubs have a fractionally better winning percentage.
In other words, if the Cubs were in the Wild Card race, they would now lead the Wild Card race. That’s pretty cool given how far back they once were. At the All-Star break, the Cubs trailed the Diamondbacks by 9.5(!) games. Wow.
The Brewers are 3.0 games behind the Rockies for that second Wild Card spot, by the way.
Elsewhere, the Dodgers and Nationals are still very much going to win their divisions, though the Dodgers dropped a heartbreaker last night:
Rich Hill threw 9 innings of a no-hitter, but the Dodgers didn't score. Then Josh Harrison did this in the 10th. pic.twitter.com/wNFix7Dtfj
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 24, 2017