They had a chance to clinch it in front of their fans at Wrigley Field Thursday night, but lost to the Brewers.
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Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs for clinching the National League Central Division. Their season ended with a disappointing early exit in the playoffs to the Boston Red Sox.
The Cubs, who indeed had a target on their back all season, mocked anyone who dared try to harm their World Series chances. That might not be how we envisioned the season playing out, but there are certainly worse fates than the one the Mets now find themselves in. The action continues this afternoon, with oddsmakers at online sports book Bovada.lv installing Joe Maddon’s crew as a 1.5-run favorite.
Absent from the Cubs lineup were MVP candidates Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. “This is one of our goals and steps toward a bigger goal”. While the loaded bases gave the Cubs two more opportunities to walk off-and oh how close did they come to a “shrimp”, the ignominious walk-off walk-Matt Szczur and Javier Baez flied and grounded out, respectively. Now, a soft-tossing righty, who passed up being drafted out of high school to get an Ivy League education, could hold the title of National League’s best hurler. Besides that, they hardly have a blemish to their names. Dodgers starter Rich Hill was tagged for four runs over 5 1/3, one start after he threw seven ideal innings at Miami. Arrieta and Lester are tied for the most wins with 17.
Johnny Cueto pitched a five-hitter and helped his own cause with a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series. Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, and Jason Hammel are all free agents after 2017.
It looked as though the Cubs failed to add a cost-controlled starter to their team at the deadline, but Montgomery is attempting to prove those people wrong.
Overall, everything that has been accomplished by these five men has been absolutely mind blowing.
To many, he may just seem like a fifth starter, blending in and finishing out the year by doing his part behind a team full of All-Stars and getting ready for a playoff campaign.
More importantly for the club’s postseason success, might just be the strides made by Cub pitchers this second half.
Milwaukee withstand a late rally to snag a 5-4 victory over its Central Division title-seeking adversaries.
“They’ve all given their best every game”, Ricketts said. Lackey could even be thrown into the conversation in some instances. Heyward (.618 OPS) is having the worst offensive year of his career – and one of the worst offensive seasons in the majors in 2016. J.A. Happ (19-4) took a shutout into the seventh inning and earned his 13th win in his last 17 starts. Arrieta has not been the Arrieta that we saw previous year, but it is impractical that he would have back to back seasons of that proportion.
The LA Dodgers won 2-0 at the Yankees, Washington beat the visiting Mets 1-0, San Francisco stumbled again, swept by struggling San Diego through a 3-1 home loss, Miami won 7-5 at Atlanta, Philadelphia won 6-2 at home to Pittsburgh, Milwaukee won 7-0 at Cincinatti, and Arizona beat visiting Colorado 11-6. While a young gun, he has been the statistical leader of the staff this season. But the Cardinals and surprising Marlins are hot on their heels.
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If I were on the ballot to vote, I do not think I could pick one above the other.
