ST. PETERSBURG – In an odd twist in a season full of extremes for the Cubs, they will take the field against the Red Sox on Sunday at Tropicana Field to close out the regular season. It is a ballpark famous for Game 162 drama, but this time it will serve as a postseason tune-up for both ballclubs.
Late Saturday night, Chicago’s place on the October stage was sealed with the combination of the Padres beating the D-backs and the Phillies losing to the Rays. The Cubs are locked into the second Wild Card spot in the National League and will head to San Diego for a rematch of last year’s tightly contested, first-round clash with the Padres.
“Everyone’s goal is to get to the postseason and make a deep run,” Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said on Friday at Fenway Park. “You grow up as a kid watching playoff baseball, and it’s the best kind of baseball there is. It’s so much fun. Every pitch, whether you're on defense or on offense or running the bases, just means so much.
“The pressure’s at an all-time high. The fans are having a blast. Games are close. It’s the best pitchers versus the best hitters on every team. You’re getting after it. There’s nothing like playoff baseball.”
The Cubs and Red Sox are in St. Petersburg due to a major Nor’easter that hit the Boston region this weekend, complicating the ability to finish the series as planned. The teams scrambled to put together a doubleheader on Friday, then pushed the final game back to Sunday at the neutral site, with some playoff seeding still uncertain.
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As it turns out, this final game has no bearing on the Wild Card race in either the American League or NL. The Red Sox will head to New York to face the Yankees in the first round. And with tiebreakers over the Phillies and D-backs by winning each season series, the Cubs secured the second spot, even if they wind up in a tie.
That means Cubs manager Craig Counsell can use Sunday’s game to help set his pitching staff up for the Wild Card Series, which will have Game 1 on Tuesday, Game 2 on Wednesday and a potential Game 3 on Thursday. As things stand, Counsell has not tipped his hand on who will start any of those contests.
“Don’t worry about who’s going to start,” Counsell said on Friday. “Worry about how we’re going to get 27 outs. Really, that’s what is the biggest thing we’ve got to get through, and we need guys throwing the ball well to do that.”
The Cubs could go with Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga or Kevin Gausman for the Wild Card opener, though Gausman is still being monitored after injuring his left (non-throwing) shoulder in his most recent outing. Clay Holmes and David Peterson pitched in Friday’s twin bill, putting them on target to likely be available by Game 2 at the earliest.
That means the Cubs have a number of ways they can go, as they consider the matchups within the Padres’ lineup now.
“This is the time of year where you’ve got to be at your best,” Peterson said on Friday. “And I think as you come down the stretch as a starter, you don’t necessarily know if you're going to be starting or coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs. So I think it’s trying to get your stuff as sharp as possible, and be at your best going into it.”
Last year, the Cubs took two of three from the Padres at Wrigley Field in the Wild Card round to earn a trip to the NL Division Series against the rival Brewers. That is once again the road to the World Series, if Chicago wants to make the most of this 10th anniversary of the 2016 triumph. Milwaukee is once again awaiting the winner of this rematch in San Diego.
During the regular season, the North Siders won five of six games against the Padres, picking up two wins in a three-game series from April 27-29 in San Diego and sweeping a series at Wrigley Field from June 29-July 1.
The latter series featured Seiya Suzuki delivering a walk-off single off Mason Miller on June 29 and Dansby Swanson’s three-homer, eight-RBI outburst in a 23-3 rout on July 1. Pete Crow-Armstrong headed into that April series with just one homer and a .613 OPS. He homered in back-to-back games on April 28-29 and blossomed into the favorite to take home the NL MVP Award. Crow-Armstrong has a 1.007 OPS with 44 homers and 100 RBIs dating back to that series against the Padres.
“You just appreciate that you’re here,” Crow-Armstrong said after the Cubs clinched a spot in the postseason for the second year in a row. “And I’m sure I’ll continue to learn that it doesn't really matter how you make the playoffs. It’s just the fact that you're there and that you've given yourself a chance to go play more baseball and win more games.”