As we experienced potentially our last couple really hot days in Chicago earlier this week, the Cubs were busy getting hot too, sweeping through 3 pretty good pitchers in Pittsburgh, making maybe their final push for a Wild Card spot.
This sweep has brought the Cubs above 500 for the first time since May; whoa! Yes, I thought we were done for, but maybe not? Sure, we’re still 9 games behind the Brewers for the division; that ship has probably sailed. But in the Wild Card, we sit 5.5 games behind the Braves; the Mets are also ahead of us. It hasn’t helped that the Braves haven’t been losing lately, and that the Mets are coming to Chicago this weekend, to play the Sox, but… we have a chance. I guess with Steele and Imanaga at the top of the rotation…
This sweep was impressive. Yes, the Pirates are reeling, but… we took on their top 3 pitchers. Keller is no slouch; got him early in Game 1. Jones is the 2nd most famous fireballer wearing a Pirates uni; we did catch him in his 1st start of the DL. And then finally, on Wednesday afternoon, we got our rematch with Skenes. We really didn’t get him. When Skenes left the game, the Pirates were winning 10-3; this was how the score remained heading into the 7th inning. Game over, right? 11 runs over the next 3 innings, and the Cubs pull off a miraculous comeback and complete the sweep with a 14-10 win; fly that W!!!
41 runs over these 3 games. They scored a total of 45 runs from June 6th to June 21st!!! Why has the offense finally heated up? It wasn’t just THIS series either. The Cubs scored 22 runs in the Miami series; they scored 15 runs in the Detroit series. The Cubs won both of those series. They won the series before against Toronto. 9-3 over the past 12 games since the sweep the wrong way against the Guardians in Cleveland; guess they got revenge for 2016 huh? Haha… Before then, the Cubs swept the Sox in 2 games, won a series against the Twins, and took 3 of 4 from the Cardinals. Yes, the Cubs HAVE been getting hot.
The Nationals are up next, followed by the Pirates again. If we’re serious about this push, winning both of those series is critical. After these, it’s Yankees and Dodgers. Should we be getting excited, for real? Well, it’s nice to think about. Is it realistic? Anything is possible. After NY and LA, it’s Rockies, A’s, and Nationals again…. not too shabby. We end with the Phillies and Reds. This is certainly not a murderer’s row schedule. Yes, we do need to hop 2 teams; they only play each other 3 more times this year. They do play the Phillies a combined 11 more times this year… All of a sudden, maybe it’s not such a long shot?
I know we’re all excited about the Bears, and rightfully so. But maybe baseball isn’t quite over yet in Chicago? Go Cubs!
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