I’m trying to finish these Bullets and stay singularly focused on the Cubs, but people keep pinging me about other news. I am not interested in that at this precise moment, folks. Let me CUB (which is hard enough as it is!).
With the loss last night, the Cubs are now down seven in a row, with a worse record than 11 teams. If you’d asked me two weeks ago if I thought the Cubs might miss the playoffs, I’d have said, “Yeah, it’s possible, but I’m pretty sure they’ll at least hold onto a Wild Card spot.” If you’d asked me two weeks ago if I thought the Cubs would back their way into a top 20 draft pick, I’d have said no effing way. Alas.
Speaking of which, the Cubs are currently tied with the Mets and Red Sox at 82-75, with the Diamondbacks a game and a half “worse” than the Cubs. It is not impossible that the Cubs could wind up with the 16th worst record in MLB this year. Don’t get me wrong, my eyes pop at that figure, but I certainly wouldn’t hate to see the Cubs drafting up there. Might as well get something out of this shitswirl of a season.
Also: the Cubs still have the fourth best run differential in the NL, which (1) makes me chuckle, and (2) underscores that for some teams, run differential really doesn’t offer quite as much under-the-hood information as you might wish.
Kyle Hendricks, who carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning last night before a hit parade knocked him out of the game, offers the perfect deer-in-the-headlights take on the loss and the last week of collapse:
Bummer of a couple errors last night for Nico Hoerner in has otherwise been a perfectly solid – if unspectacular – showing at shortstop. I think he does look more like a second baseman than a shortstop, especially as he ages, but it’s been nice to see that he can play passable big league shortstop.
Any injury is not good, but I dig that Bryant sees the silver lining that the ankle roll might’ve protected his troublesome knee – that could have been a disaster. Keeping it thoughtfully positive:
Kris Bryant said it was hard to watch the replay of his injury, but he’s glad it’s not as bad as initially feared. He plans on trying to come back for a Cubs team clinging to razor-thin playoff hopes. pic.twitter.com/fn8hdTjgof
With the Cubs just about eliminated, I hope Bryant returns only if he’s 100% healthy. Just no reason whatsoever to push if the Cubs get eliminated tonight or tomorrow, as expected. Ditto Javy Baez. Ditto Anthony Rizzo. Ditto Craig Kimbrel. The only guy who might want to push a bit is Cole Hamels, but that’s really only for his own benefit – if he wants to show he is healthy again and can be effective right before free agency.
Speaking of which … kinda stinks that Hamels’ disastrous second half post-oblique injury has very likely taken a qualifying offer off the table. More on that as the deadline approaches.
Speaking of free agent starting pitchers, this pitch is JUST SO STUPID:
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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