CHICAGO – The Cubs will have to wait another year to try to unseat the rival Brewers as the National League Central champions.
With a 6-3 loss to the Braves on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, the North Siders were officially knocked out of the division race. The loss allowed the Brewers to clinch their fourth consecutive Central title, creating a situation where the Cubs can now hope for a potential rematch with Milwaukee on the October stage for a second straight year.
The Cubs labored to get much going against Braves lefty Martín Pérez on Tuesday night, while Chicago’s bullpen added another tough night in what has been a trying few weeks for the group. Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s loss to Atlanta:
1. The playoff picture
With the loss, the Cubs maintained their half-game lead over the Phillies in the race for the NL’s top Wild Card spot. Technically, the advantage is effectively a full game for Chicago, which holds the tiebreaker over the Phillies after going 6-1 against them in the season series.
That means, at the moment, the Cubs are in line to host a Wild Card Series in the first round of the postseason. That was the case a year ago, when Chicago beat San Diego, 2-1, in the best-of-three Wild Card round at Wrigley Field.
The Padres – winners of eight in a row, entering Tuesday – came into the day in the NL’s third Wild Card spot and trailing the Cubs by 1 1/2 games. San Diego had a late game against the Rockies. The D-backs also had a late game against the Marlins and came into the day 2 1/2 games back of the Padres. Chicago holds tiebreakers over both the Padres and D-backs.
2. Gausman’s outing
Cubs starter Kevin Gausman cruised through five innings against the Braves before finally flinching in the sixth. In a way, it was a summation of his eight-start tenure with Chicago since coming over at the Trade Deadline.
Gausman has had mixed results for the North Siders to date, logging three quality starts and also having three outings with at least five runs allowed. Tuesday’s effort was somewhere in the middle, with two runs on his line in 5 2/3 innings. The veteran righty blanked Atlanta’s offense until yielding a two-run homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. in the sixth.
Overall, Gausman struck out six and issued no walks in his showing, which included eight outs via grounders (all coming within the first five innings). The starter did generate 15 whiffs (12 courtesy of his splitter) and was solid across the board until the third time through the Braves’ order.
3. Bullpen drama continues
The Cubs have been trying to get veteran righty Jacob Webb back into a rhythm amid a recent run of poor production on the mound. Following what Chicago hoped was a step forward in its last series, Webb struggled again Tuesday night.
Trying to hold a 3-2 lead, Webb took over in the seventh and issued a leadoff walk to Austin Riley. Two batters later, Ozzie Albies attacked a 2-1 changeup from Webb for a two-run, go-ahead homer. In his last eight appearances – immediately following a 24-game scoreless streak – Webb has allowed 11 runs and four homers in 6 2/3 innings.
Righty Edward Cabrera, who recently returned from the injured list, made his bullpen debut behind Webb. Cabrera escaped the seventh and got through the eighth unscathed. In the ninth, two runners reached, but Cabrera picked off Brewer Hicklen at first base (helped by a replay challenge by the Cubs). Cabrera then allowed a two-run homer to Drake Baldwin that erased the perceived momentum.