Chicago Cubs are watching the standings in a tight NL wild-card race: 4 takeaways from their series in Detroit
With their sights set on winning a division title, the Chicago Cubs weren’t focusing on the National League wild-card chase.
Next week’s three-game series at Wrigley Field against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers should be a chance to narrow the 3 1/2-game margin between the NL Central rivals, and the Cubs have Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele and Kyle Hendricks set up to start.
But beggars can’t be choosers, and if the wild card is the Cubs’ only path to the postseason, they’ll take it.
“I probably check (the wild-card standings) this year more than in the past,” manager David Ross said with a grin Wednesday morning.
Of course, there was no need to check them in 2021 and ‘22, when the Cubs were out of contention by this point.
“This is what’s so much fun to me about baseball — getting into this time of the year and rooting against the teams around you,” Ross said. “It’s funny, with all candidness, I can’t wait to get to my phone when we win. And I don’t want to check it when we lose.”
If Ross checked his phone on the flight to Pittsburgh after Wednesday’s 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers, he would’ve found the Cubs in second in the chase for three wild-card spots, 2 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and a half-game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.
The Brewers’ 8-7, 10-inning comeback win over the Minnesota Twins in 100-degree heat in Milwaukee prevented them from losing ground to the Cubs.
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon threw five no-hit innings in Detroit before falling apart in the sixth, but Yan Gomes’ two-out, RBI single in the eighth snapped a 4-4 tie and Julian Merryweather and Adbert Alzolay closed it out.
The Cubs’ last wild-card appearance came in 2018, when they blew a divisional tiebreaker game to the Brewers at Wrigley Field and then lost to the Colorado Rockies the next day at home to end their season.
Are the players paying attention to what the other wild-card contenders are doing? Do they even know which teams are currently in and out?
“Everyone has always got an idea of (who they are), but I don’t think anyone is losing any sleep over it,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “That’s the way our heads are at anyway. We have bigger things than that, and that’s what we’re obviously striving for.”
In addition to the Phillies, Diamondbacks, Giants and Reds, the Cubs also have to keep tabs on the Miami Marlins, who are two games behind the Cubs.
The San Diego Padres, who may have the best lineup of any contender, are six games behind the Cubs and fading.
Here are three other takeaways from the series in Detroit, in which the Cubs took two of three.
1. The Cubs need more offense out of Dansby Swanson.
After an 0-for-4 performance in Wednesday’s win, Swanson is hitting .174 over his last 26 games since July 26. But seven of his 16 hits were home runs and he drove in 22 runs in that stretch, including four Tuesday night.
“It’s just the ebbs and flows of the season,” Swanson said. “Sometimes you feel like all you can do is hit singles. Sometimes it’s the other way around. We put in a lot of really good work and had a lot of good conversations, and I feel like I’m starting to find a little bit of my rhythm again, so definitely some positive steps moving forward.”
Also struggling at the plate in August is Christopher Morel, hitting .136 in the month and forcing Ross to leave the slugger on the bench Wednesday. Patrick Wisdom was deployed as the designated hitter and went 0-for-2, falling to .197 for the season.
Morel has three home runs in August, including the walk-off, three-run shot against the White Sox on Aug. 16 at Wrigley. But Ross needs more out of both him and Swanson.
2. Marcus Stroman is gone from the team, and when he will return is unknown.
“He headed home to Tampa to rest up,” Ross said.
Stroman, who inexplicably suffered fractured right rib cartilage, said last week he can’t do anything and didn’t want to be around the team while injured and become a distraction. Ross said he’s leaving it up to team doctors and trainers to update him on Stroman, as he does with all injured players.
“That’s not my forte,” he said. “I text (players), ‘Hey, I hope you’re good, buddy, see you when you get back.’ No real information. It’s a tricky thing with players. Do they give you real information? Like, ‘Hey how you feeling?’ They’re like, ‘Great, skip.’ Then they’re in the training room like, ‘I can barely walk.’”
Kyle Hendricks said players are “all checking in on” Stroman to provide support.
“He’s doing everything he can, getting work,” Hendricks said. “It’s kind of up in the air. It’s a very bizarre injury that you don’t see a lot of. He’s trying to navigate his way through it. He’s so aware of his body and he works so hard to be right and be the guy we’ve needed him to be. He’s been unbelievable for us.
“Hopefully there is some silver lining here. Find something and get back this year. If not, you just hope in the long run his health returns and he can be who he is.”
3. Drew Smyly remains in the rotation — for now — in spite of his poor outing Tuesday.
Smyly, who allowed seven runs in 3 2/3 innings in an 8-6 loss to the Tigers, is scheduled to face the Pirates on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Ross said Smyly “wasn’t as aggressive as he wanted to (be), was fatigued at the back end” of his start after a recent stint in the bullpen.
“That comes along with the layoff and a new routine,” Ross said. “Hopefully he can be better with his next start, and we’ll go from there.”
Would Ross try an opener again, with Smyly coming in as the first reliever, as he did earlier?
Ross wouldn’t go there, but he said Hayden Wesneski is built up enough now to piggyback with Smyly. And prospect Jordan Wicks was scratched from his start for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday, leading to speculation he could replace Smyly in the rotation.
It sounded like Smyly would get a quicker hook if he struggled in his next start, which could be his last if he doesn’t show improvement.
