And, with that, the 2018 NL Central belongs to the Brewers.
The Cubs were not *COMPLETELY* without hard contact in this one, but neither were they doing much to impress you at the plate. That’s to be expected against the Brewers’ bullpen, but it still sucks. And when the Cubs can’t do anything against Jhoulys Chacin? That burns. And it costs you the game.
On the pitching side of things, the Cubs were actually fine, by and large, but a couple critical mistakes did them in. For example, with a runner on third and two outs in the third, the Cubs made the extraordinarily inadvisable decision to pitch straight up to Christian Yelich, who, of course, drove in the run. What on earth were you thinking in that moment? At worst, throw him nothing even remotely close to the zone.
The run he drove in was scored by Orlando Arcia, who knocked a meatball for his first of FOUR hits on the day. Arcia – who came into the game with a 49(!!!) wRC+ – also factored primarily in the Brewers’ two-run 8th inning. Arcia led off the inning with a single … on an 0-2 slider in the zone … after he looked helpless against two Justin Wilson fastballs. That’s what happens when you get too cute. Perhaps some attention to the scouting report would have been in order:
Orlando Arcia is the 5th worst hitter in the NL against the fastball. So when you get him down 0-2 on fastballs, it's definitely time to go with the slider. pic.twitter.com/hnmk3fiS7b
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 1, 2018
In the end, of course you hang the loss more on the bats than the arms, but, still, it was galling to see ARCIA beating them.
The division belongs to the Brewers, who earned it with their incredible final two months of the season. Kudos. See you again on Thursday.
Cubs lose the division.
Cubs get a chance in the Wild Card Game. pic.twitter.com/0D03wtIqo4
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) October 1, 2018