It was a relatively quiet day around the baseball world yesterday, with only eight games going on. The Cardinals, like the Cubs, were off, so the top of the NL Central had only one game of note.
And that game went the right way for the Cubs!
It was the Pirates blanking the Brewers, which sounds about right after those Pirates were swept by the Cardinals, and those Brewers swept the Cubs. The NL Central is a flat circle.
With the loss, the Brewers dipped back to 2.5 games behind the Cubs, but you’ll note that the Cubs’ magic number to clinch the Central did not change, as the Cardinals and Cubs did not play. The Cardinals remain 2.0 games behind the Cubs, and are now alone in second place.
The Rockies beat the Diamondbacks, which moved the Rockies a game and a half ahead of the Cubs (if a theoretical Wild Card race were necessary). The Cardinals are 3.5 games back of the Rockies, and the Brewers are 4.0 games back.
Elsewhere, the Dodgers lost AGAIN, their 11th straight defeat. Yes, they’re still going to make the playoffs (*going to my grave saying that*), but I’m not sure I can remember seeing anything like this. A team that was such an absurd juggernaut that they were basically on pace to break the wins record as late as August … and then losing 11 in a row/16 of 17. Their lead in the West has gone from 21.0 games to 9.0 games in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the Indians won their 19th in a row, leaving them just one shy of the famous 2002 A’s streak.
Fun fact: the Dodgers still have four more wins than the Indians. Again: that’s how crazy good they were.