Well, the final week of the MLB season has arrived. If you asked me 156 games ago, I wouldn’t believe that the Cubs would have control of their own destiny in regards to the MLB postseason with 6 games to go; this is a nice surprise. This season has exceeded expectations, which is a great place to be. But, now that we’re here… might as well just punch our ticket to the postseason right?
The road to the postseason goes through Atlanta and Milwaukee. As it stands after Monday’s action, the Cubs are tied with Arizona for the 2nd/3rd Wild Card spot. Miami is 1 game out; Cincy is 2.5 games out. Forget about the division and Milwaukee; forget about the 1st Wild Card spot Philly. Forget about San Francisco and San Diego who are 4.5 and 5.5 games out of the WC respectively. The focus is 4 teams/2 spots. Arizona will be in Chicago, on the other side of town for their first 3 games; don’t expect the White Sox to do us any favors. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past them that they put up a “half-hearted” effort, like the rest of their season. The D-backs finish with 3 games at home vs the Astros, which if that race remains tight, is really good for us. The Marlins, like the Cubs, finish with 6 games on the road; the first 3 in New York vs the Mets, and the final 3 in Pittsburgh vs the Buccos. Finally, the Reds, who blew a 9-0 lead last week btw, finish on the road as well; 2 games in Cleveland and 3 games in St. Louis. Kind of crazy that out of all 4 teams fighting for these last 2 spots, 20 out of 23 games are on the road! On another note, this presents interesting betting angles…
But back to the Cubbies; how many games do we need to win to make the postseason? Obvious answer is win them all and not worry about it, but realistically… how about 4 out of 6? I’m guessing that would get the job done. Like the focus is all season: win the series! If the Cubs can win both of the remaining series, I think we’re headed to the postseason. Normally, a trip to both division leaders would make this tough, but since the Braves and Brewers are both pretty set for the postseason… maybe the team that needs these games more will take them down? Another interesting betting angle btw.
This is the true homestretch; we are guaranteed only 6 more Cubs baseball games this year. I want more. Yes, this season has already been a success, but not making the playoffs… after all this… that would be a downer. We’re dealing with enough of that with the Bears… We need the Cubs to play postseason baseball! Let’s do this guys. Go Cubs!!!
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