If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound? A key to a championship team is staying healthy, and 2016 has been good to the Cubs in that regard. Does anyone care after all the emotions expelled yesterday?
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If you’ve been around any Cubs fans this season, you know how … intense we can be. But it is hard to muster much emotion about anything that happens until after October 5 at this point.
As a result, the Giants (79-70) and Cardinals (78-71) end the series exactly where they started – with San Francisco holding a one-game advantage in the National League wild-card race with now 13 games to play. He allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out eight in seven-plus innings.
Jordy Mercer had an RBI single with the bases loaded in the 10th as the Pittsburgh Pirates maintained their own wild card hopes with a 9-7 success against the Cincinnati Reds. The two runs equaled the total surrendered by Hendricks in his last six starts at Wrigley Field, a span of 40 2/3 innings.
Chris Carter homered and Martin Maldonado and Peralta (7-10) added RBI singles for the Brewers, who took three of four games from the Cubs. That was until the bottom of the sixth inning. There’s no one way to predict a World Series victor, but we do know that teams can position themselves to have a better chance-like the Cubs have done this year, with the best record in baseball and the 20-25 percent odds they now hold.
Braun drove in five runs in all, helping the Brewers erase a 3-0 deficit to score 11-straight runs and win.
The Philadelphia Phillies secured a 4-3 win over the Miami Marlins, with pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes singling home the winning run with one out in the 13th, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-4 and the Boston Red Sox saw off the New York Yankees by the same scoreline. Whit Merrifield had three hits and two RBIs. Their state-of-the-art infield got the day off, replaced by Coghlan, Munenori Kawasaki, Javier Baez and Tommy La Stella. Matt Szczur struck out, and it left Munenori Kawasaki to pick up his teammate. He did not walk a batter and was the beneficiary of two double plays. “He’s swinging the bat really well”. Thankfully it was two guys not likely to be counted on in the postseason that failed to deliver.
Kris Bryant tripled in the first run, then scored on Chris Coghlan’s home run to right.
The offense didn’t take any chances, though.
Jake Arrieta has been able to dominate most teams this season, but the one team he hasn’t had much success against is the Brewers. It has continued the up and down, comparatively, year Jake has had. After a scoreless inning by Trevor Cahill, Carl Edwards Jr. came in. He has been a real weapon while Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon were hurting.
Cubs: LF Jorge Soler departed after three innings due to tightness on his right side.
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Coming Next: The series concludes on Sunday afternoon with the Cubs’ best statistical pitcher facing Wily Peralta. There haven’t been many moments of doubt, and the Cubs seem to be just killing time until the real test starts. The Cubs will have Jason Hammel pitching in the opener, but beyond that is up in the air as the staff is being set for games that count.
