Double-Doubleheader for Cardinals, Quintana, Willson is Awesome, Sad Skaggs Details, and Other Bullets

There’s a lot to get to this morning, but The Wife and I have a date to get our butts kicked in an exercise class, so I’m gonna breeze through these Bullets (and the earlier Kyle Schwarber post), and then get back at you later.

  • The Cubs shrunk their deficit in the NL Central to just a single game yesterday thanks to their win over the Brewers, but it stayed at a single game because of the weirdness in St. Louis: the game against the Reds was postponed … to Sunday … in a doubleheader … which will come one day after the Reds and Cardinals play another doubleheader. That’s right: the teams are playing TWO STRAIGHT doubleheaders this weekend. That’s very unfortunate for the Cardinals, and you just hate to see it. 😈
  • Because of that weirdness, the Cubs could actually leave this weekend with anything from a 4.0-game deficit in the Central to a 2.0-game lead.
  • If the Cubs can sweep the Brewers, and the Cardinals split these doubleheaders, the teams will be tied.
  • Jose Quintana is just quietly doing his thing. In his last 11 starts, he’s had two meh ones, and nine(!) solid ones. His ERA is down to 3.90, the best he’s posted in three years, and his ERA- of 88 is actually right in line with the best years of his career thanks to the current offensive environment.
  • (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

  • This is so freaking awesome. The Iowa Cubs clinched their first postseason appearance in a decade, and who is right there to greet every single one of them as they come off the field? Willson Contreras:
  • https://twitter.com/IowaCubs/status/1167638905212022784

  • More on the Iowa Cubs, and on Contreras’s first rehab outing, soon.
  • Terrible details on the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs:
  • Not sure what you were expecting to happen to this pitch, but good for Jorge Soler:
  • https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1167597652634144769

  • Fancy vacuums, bags, and more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon today.
  • Thank you for this picture, Javy:
  • View this post on Instagram

    When people keeping saying the #Cubs are toast.

    A post shared by Bleacher Nation (@bleachernation) on

  • More player perspective on social media:
  • https://twitter.com/sn_mlb/status/1167452344419831808

  • If El Mago played ultimate frisbee:
  • https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1167486679092989953

  • A nice bonus for the Bears:
  • 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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