The Brewers and Cubs have been playing a four-game series this week at Wrigley, which will go a long way towards determining the outcome of the NL Central race.
The Cubs won in a rout on Monday (hitting nine home runs), and the Brewers won last night; tonight, Milwaukee had ace pitcher Jacob Misiorowski on the mound. Miz had probably his worst outing of the season with 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in just 4 innings. But, the Brewers bats and bullpen came through, and the Cubs only got one hit the rest of the way, as Milwaukee won, 9-5.
The Brewers now have a nine-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central; the best that Chicago can now hope for, if they can get a win tomorrow, is to finish the series having not lost any ground in the division race.
With 3 1/2 weeks left in the regular season, here’s how the races are shaping up.
National League
- East: The Braves have a 4 game lead over the Phillies
- Central: The Brewers have a 9 game lead over the Cubs, and the best record in baseball (87-53)
- West: The Dodgers have a 9.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks, and a 10-game lead over the Padres
- Wild Cards: Phillies, Cubs, and Diamondbacks have the slots today, with the Padres and Marlins close behind Arizona
American League
- East: The Rays have a 4 game lead over the Yankees, and the best record in the AL
- Central: The White Sox continue to surprise, with a 3 game lead over the Guardians
- West: The Astros have a 2 game lead over the Rangers
- Wild Cards: Yankees, Red Sox, and Guardians, with the Rangers, Orioles, and Blue Jays all 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the last spot
But the Cubs do go to Milwaukee for a series against the Brewers next week, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they can make up some ground there.
It more than likely won’t happen, because the Brewers are the best team in baseball right now. But a diehard fan can dream.
Truth. If the Cubs can win tomorrow, and get a sweep in Milwaukee next week, they could shrink the lead down to 5 games or so (depending on the weekend series for both teams in between). But, at that point, they’d only have 15 total games remaining to make up the rest of that deficit.
Currently, all American League teams that are playing better than .500 ball hold playoff positions. Houston is the only team in the West that is above .500.
Well, shit. I figured it was coming, but it still hurts…