Braves sweep Cubs |
ATLANTA - Had anyone told you that the Chicago Cubs (82-77) would be playing meaningful games come the final week of the regular season, most Cubs fans would have been on board. However, given how this team played heading into September, it makes their late-season struggles that much more brutal, as the Cubs picked the worst time to go into a slump.
As recently as September 10, this team had a 92% chance to make the playoffs. Here we are roughly three weeks later, and the Cubs have not only seen those playoff chances tumble down to 18%, but their season may have officially ended on Thursday as the Atlanta Braves (103-56) capped off a three-game sweep at Truist Park 5-3. A big reason for the Cubs struggles, as of late, has been a struggling bullpen and several key players whom this team counted on all season. One of those guys is Marcus Stroman, who will now enter the offseason with the expectation that he will opt into the 2024 season. After putting together one of the best six-week stretches we have ever seen to start the season, Stroman fell apart down the stretch to the point where he didn't win a single start after June. To make matters worse, his ERA was north of 8.00 in those starts, and it got worse in this one as he was pulled after just two innings. Stroman allowed four runs in those two innings, but once again, it was an error that helped the Braves score two runs, as two of those four runs were unearned. “That lineup is incredible,” said Stroman after the game. “One through nine, they're solid, man. You have to be locked in from pitch one. They don't give you any breaks.” Unfortunately, that would be enough for the Brave's offense as AJ Smith-Shawver and Kyle Wright gave the Braves six combined innings, allowing just two runs in the process. Early on, the Cubs continued to show the fight they have shown all season, with Mike Tauchman leading off the game with a walk before coming home on an Ian Happ RBI fielders choice to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Chicago had no trouble scoring in the early innings, but they did have trouble holding onto the lead, which was once again an issue in this one. Immediately following the Cubs run in the first, the Braves answered right back as the two-out single from Austin Riley kept the inning alive. That set the tone for Matt Olson, who unloaded for his 54th homer of the season, and just like that, it was 2-1 Atlanta, and they never looked back. Things only got worse for Stroman in the second inning as a leadoff error paved the way for a pair of unearned runs as the Michael Harris double and Ronald Acuna Jr. single put the Cubs in a massive 4-1 hole. That was it for Stroman on the night as he was replaced by Javier Assad. Some would argue that given how well Assad was pitching down the stretch, Stroman had no business being back in the rotation. They may be right, but Assad was touched up a bit in this series, including allowing a leadoff triple to Riley to begin the third and setting the Braves offense up again. Two batters later saw Marcell Ozuna pick up a one-out walk to keep things going while another error brought home the fifth and final run for the Braves as they took a 5-1 lead. Apart from the shaky start, the Cubs pitching deserves a ton of credit for the job they did to keep things close, with Luke Little and Hayden Wesneski giving the Cubs several massive innings of work to give the offense a chance. The only problem was solving a Braves pen that is ranked third in the National League in ERA, as that has been one of their vital assets all season long. With the Cubs offense going silent for four innings after striking first, they were finally able to break through against Wright in the sixth as they continued to battle back. A leadoff single from Nico Hoerner certainly helped with that, but a two-out double from Seiya Suzuki made things 5-2 as his excellent September continued. Still trailing by that score in the eighth, Brian Snitker called on AJ Minter to pitch, and the top of the Cubs order started to make things interesting. Once again, Hoerner was in the middle of the action as his leadoff single had the Cubs in business. One-out singles from Cody Bellinger and Suzuki followed that, with Suzuki driving in his second run in as many at-bats to make things 5-3. With a chance to come through against his former team with two runners on and one out, Dansby Swanson came up empty again as his inning-ending double play seemed to be the final dagger for the Cubs as Swason finished up an awful 1-13 series against his former team. To make matters worse, Swanson hasn't been the player the Cubs were hoping for the past month, as he has hit just .218 over his last 40 games while also committing several critical errors in the field. Another scoreless frame from Wesneski in the eighth sent the game to the ninth as the Cubs were down to their final three outs as Raisel Iglesias retired the Cubs in order to complete the sweep. With just three games remaining in the season, the Cubs will now head to Milwaukee trailing the Miami Marlins by one game in the wild-card race. Given the tie-breaker scenarios, the only way the Cubs can make the postseason would be to sweep the Brewers or, at the very worst, take two of three and pray that the Marlins lose two of three or get swept by the Pirates. Suzuki and Hoerner had big nights for the Cubs as they combined for five of the six hits, with Suzuki picking up three with his two RBIs. The Cubs will turn to Kyle Hendricks tomorrow as he will make his final start of the season against the former Cub Collin Rea.
