With just a couple games left in the regular season, the situation for the Cubs is pretty simple: win each of their final two games and the NL Central is theirs.
It gets moderately more complicated if the Cubs lose a game, but there are only so many permutations. Lose one game, and they’ll need the Brewers to also lose at least one in order to win the division. Lose both, and they’ll need the Brewers to lose both to win the division. A lesser combination yields a tie, in which case the teams will play a tiebreaker game on Monday at Wrigley Field at one of these two times:
Here is the schedule for any potential Monday Tiebreaker Games on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/mN3WEX9SrY
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) September 28, 2018
With the Brewers a game behind, it would take the Cubs losing both of their final two games and the Brewers winning both of their final two games for them to pass the Cubs. Certainly possible, but, of the bad outcomes, the tie is more plausible.
Then again, if the Brewers have the voodoo magic that allows them to pull off things like this in the 8th inning of games:
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1045874000251957248
https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/1045871968728363016
That’s how the Brewers beat the Tigers last night, a game in which you wouldn’t have been betting on the Tigers anyway, but it stings that they got so close.
The Cubs and Cardinals play today at noon CT, and the Brewers and Tigers play at 6:10 pm CT.
Elsewhere, thanks to their loss to the Cubs and to the Dodgers’ win, the Cardinals are two games back in the Wild Card, with an elimination number of one. Here’s hoping they are eliminated today, and thus feel demoralized heading into the final game of the season, making a win on Sunday just a tiny bit smoother sailing.
Well, I guess if we’re hoping for things, here’s hoping the Cubs win today and the Brewers lose tonight, which would clinch the division for the Cubs.