The Cubs have a chance for their second straight sweep on the road against a very sweepable team. This is exactly what they need to do to have a prayer. Their playoff odds ticked up slightly yesterday thanks to the three Wild Card teams all losing – FanGraphs has it at 6.2% for the Cubs. That’s about a 1 in 16 shot. Just keep winning.
- Welcome to September. Roster expansion arrives today, which means the Cubs get to call up one additional position player and one additional pitcher. We already know that the latter will be Jordan Wicks, returning from his rehab stint at Triple-A Iowa – I am very eager to see him back, and hopefully healthy the rest of the way.
- As far as the position player goes, I think it’s going to be someone already on the 40-man roster, or someone who needs to go on the 40-man anyway before November (i.e., someone who is eligible for the Rule 5 Draft). I tend to think it’s just going to be Miles Mastrobuoni, because he can bring some versatility on defense and decent speed off the bench (the kinds of things you like to add at the margins in September). But I understand that people are going to be hoping for Owen Caissie. Maybe at some point this month he’ll come up. Not sure it’ll be today.
- Craig Counsell on yesterday’s win to close out a very strong August for the Cubs:
- Cubs offense still doing some things:
- The power hasn’t quite shown up, but Isaac Paredes has a .500 OBP over his last six games.
- The arm doesn’t get a ton of the defensive praise when people talk about how good Pete Crow-Armstrong is on defense, but he’s got a good one:
- We are all thankful for PCA:
- Porter Hodge had his sweeper working in the 9th, striking out top young outfielders Dylan Crews and James Wood in succession to lock down the win:
- Hodge is down to a 1.80 ERA over his 35.0 innings this year, 10th best among all relievers in baseball this year (min. 35.0 IP).
- Cubs pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins threw a dominant five innings yesterday:
- The walk rate remains stubbornly high for Wiggins, but I tend to be pretty forgiving of that for guys who are in their first year back from Tommy John surgery. As long as the physical health is there and the stuff looks like it could play, you can safely remain optimistic.
- Heckuva play by James Triantos:
- Way to hang onto the ball:
- Moises Ballesteros homered as part of a three-hit day for Iowa:
- Miggy on the mic: