It’s pretty crazy. Coming into this season most thought that the Chicago Cubs had the best roster up and down, from 1 to 25. However, we sit here with a couple of games left in the season, and the Cubs are all but eliminated from the playoffs.
They’re four games out of the last National League Wild Card spot with only six games left to play. During the most important part of the season, the Cubs have lost six straight games.
They had a golden opportunity to get right back into the thick of the race this past weekend. Inexplicably they lost four straight games and got swept by the division-leading St Louis Cardinals.
The Pirates? They’ve been out of the playoff race since like the third game of the season.
Probable Pitchers
For the Cubs, Kyle Hendricks will get another start in what has been a terrific 2019 season for him. This will be his 30th start this year, and he is currently 11-9 on the year. Now, how does having nine losses constitute having a “terrific” season? Well, five of his nine losses this season have come in situations where he only gave up two earned runs.
And, unlike the rest of the Cubs team, Hendricks has stepped his game up during the most important time of the year. He hasn’t taken a loss since Aug. 10 and has only taken two losses overall since the All-Star break.
One thing worthy of noting here is how good Hendricks has been this season against the Pirates. He has given up only four runs in three starts over a total of 16 innings. However, he does have a road ERA of 4.94, almost three runs higher than his home ERA.
For the Pirates, No. 1 prospect Mitch Keller will make his 11th start of the season. The rookie year for Keller has been mostly uninspiring, but he has shown flashes that made him the Pirates’ best prospect.
Keller’s big thing as a prospect was the sink on his fastball as well as his 11-5 curveball that worked together to create a lot of ground-ball outs. That was shown last year in the minors when he had a GB% of almost 70%!
Unfortunately, in the majors, that number has dropped to only 40%, while his home runs have gone up. The good news is that the Pirates are terrible, so while Keller’s ERA is 7.74, his FIP is only 3.38, and his xFIP is 3.47.
Batter To Watch
One reason I’m upset the Cubs likely won’t make the playoffs is that means no Nick Castellanos in October. He has been otherworldly since coming over in the trade from Detroit. He’s batting .339 with 16 home runs and 36 RBI in only 49 games as a Cub. Something even crazier, out of those 49 games as a Cub, he has at least one hit in 40 of them.
The Pick
I’m still holding out hope that the Cubs can make this interesting. Their roster is good enough to be in the playoffs. Take the Cubbies here.
