It’s now official: the Chicago Cubs will play the winner of the National League wild card game when they open the playoffs on October 7.
That confirmation comes on the heels of a Washington Nationals loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, meaning that the Cubs will at least share the National League’s best record with the Nationals. One more Cubs win or Nationals loss will clinch the best record in the league for the Cubs, who will have home-field advantage in each of the first two rounds of the postseason.
As for the identity of the Cubs’ potential opponent when the postseason opens, that is still very much up in the air, as we’ll see in today’s update of the National League wild card race.
What Happened Friday:
There are three teams within a game and a half of each other in that race, with the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants currently occupying the top two spots and the St. Louis Cardinals looking in from the outside.
The Cardinals fell to the Cubs 5-0 on Friday afternoon, putting them a game behind the Mets for the top spot in the race. Ben Zobrist drove in a pair of runs and Jake Arrieta struck out 10 Cardinals batters as the Cubs won their 98th game of the season. [[393634811, C]]
The Mets were able to gain the upper hand on the Cardinals thanks to a 10-5 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. Michael Conforto hit his 17th home run of the season on Friday for the Mets, and six different Mets pitchers combined for the victory as they inched ahead of both the Giants and the Cardinals.
Chicago Baseball
Speaking of the Giants, they were blown out by the San Diego Padres by a 7-2 margin. Despite the loss, the Giants maintained a half-game edge over the Cardinals for the second wild card spot in the National League, meaning that if the season ended right now San Francisco would play against the Mets in a one-game playoff in the Big Apple for the right to face the Cubs.
In case things weren’t intriguing enough, the Pirates are still hanging around in the race for the second wild card spot. Thanks to their win over the Nationals, they are now just three and a half games behind the Giants for the spot, and they’ll have an opportunity to gain some serious ground next week when they finish up the regular season against the Cardinals.
What’s Ahead:
After the teams in the wild card race wrap up their weekend series, they’ll enter the season’s final week jockeying for position. The Mets will head down to Florida to begin a series against the Miami Marlins on Monday, while the Cardinals will entertain the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. The Pirates will also begin a four-game series on Monday against the Cubs.
The Giants will be off until Tuesday, when they will welcome the Colorado Rockies to AT&T park.
The Major League season will conclude next Sunday, and the National League wild card game will take place on Oct. 5.
