CHICAGO -- The Cubs are on the cusp of clinching their second consecutive trip to the postseason, but the champagne will need to be kept on ice at least one more night.
The North Siders’ bullpen held the line for a long stretch before a six-run flurry by the Marlins sent the Cubs to an 8-2 loss in 12 innings at Wrigley Field. With the D-backs beating the Rockies on Tuesday, Chicago remains one win, or one Arizona loss, away from sealing a spot in the playoffs as one of the National League’s Wild Card teams.
“We’re in one of those positions where we’ve just got to keep playing really good baseball,” Cubs infielder Matt Shaw said. “We know it’s in front of us. We know the standings. We know everything that’s going on. It’s up to us to go out there and play really good baseball, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s loss:
1. The playoff picture
The Cubs had ample opportunities to swing Tuesday’s game their way, but finished 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position. The North Siders stranded 15 runners, including seven across the final four innings.
“We just didn’t get a hit,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “You’re not going to win many games with that. Obviously, the 10th and 11th, we had opportunities. We needed a hit. We didn’t get a hit. It’s pretty simple.”
The result was a loss that dropped the Cubs (87-70) back into a three-way tie with the Phillies and Padres in the NL Wild Card picture, with the D-backs sitting four games behind the field. The Cubs currently occupy the top Wild Card seed, having won the season series against both Philadelphia and San Diego. The Phillies hold a tiebreaker over the Padres.
This has created a situation where the Cubs, while closing in on a playoff berth, will still have to wait to find out who they would face in the first round.
“In the world, nothing’s really 100 percent,” Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga said via his interpreter, Edwin Stanberry. “Nothing is really guaranteed. I think I’ve experienced that in the past. So I think, looking forward, win tomorrow and put ourselves in the best position for the playoffs.”
2. Shota finishing strong
A year ago, Imanaga was mired in a September slump that impacted his place in the rotation depth chart when the playoffs arrived. Right now, as a possible October setting looms again for the ballclub, Imanaga is in the midst of one of his best stretches this season.
Against the Marlins, Imanaga logged 91 pitches over five innings, but he held them to one run in chilly conditions and ended with seven strikeouts against no walks. Over his past four turns for the rotation, the left-hander has spun a 1.96 ERA with 23 strikeouts and only two walks and one home run allowed in 23 innings.
“Look, it was a tough night for offense with the wind, obviously,” Counsell said. “And I thought they did a nice job with some foul balls and worked the pitch count up. But in the end, it’s one run in five innings and he did a nice job.”
In the coming days, the Cubs will have to determine how to handle Imanaga’s schedule. Sunday’s game in Boston could be in jeopardy due to inclement weather, and an NL Wild Card Series would be set to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
“My job is doing what the team says and working backwards from it and seeing what I have to do each day,” Imanaga said. “In regards to [when I pitch], I don’t really have an opinion. Whatever the team wants me to do is what my job is, and then I’ll go from there.”
3. PCA’s 40-40 pursuit
After Pete Crow-Armstrong drew a two-out walk in the third inning against Marlins starter Janson Junk, the Wrigley Field crowd began to buzz in anticipation of what might come next. Sure enough, the star center fielder continued his sprint to enter the 40-40 club.
Crow-Armstrong bolted for second base and Junk was alerted far too late. The pitcher fired the ball to first baseman Deyvison De Los Santos, but Crow-Armstrong was already arriving into second for his 39th steal of the season. With 45 homers on the year, the center fielder is one theft away from being the seventh player in MLB history to go 40-40 in a season.
“It’s super cool,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “There’s only so many guys in the game that can even think about accomplishing it. He’d only be the seventh person ever to do it. The list is pretty amazing.”