{"id":38724,"date":"2020-09-23T17:02:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T21:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=38724"},"modified":"2020-09-23T22:04:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T02:04:54","slug":"the-chicago-cubs-are-headed-to-the-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/09\/23\/the-chicago-cubs-are-headed-to-the-postseason\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs Are Headed to the Postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even with a frustrating walk-off loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> on the road, the Chicago Cubs<\/a> managed to clinch a postseason berth. It was official after the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> lost both games in their doubleheader versus the Washington Nationals<\/a> on Tuesday night. Chicago still has some work to do to win their division. Due to the differences in games played between the Cubs and St Louis Cardinals<\/a>, it’s tough to predict a magic number. It appears they’ll need to win 2-3 more games to secure the NL Central crown. They play two more games against Pittsburgh, and a three-game series versus their crosstown-rival Chicago White Sox<\/a> to close out the regular season. Barring a complete collapse, the Cubs will be no lower than the third seed in this expanded bracket. The Atlanta Braves<\/a> currently sit at the two seed, one game up on Chicago.<\/p>\n

A Successful Regular Season\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This shortened 2020 season has been a bounce back year for the Cubs. They have over-exceeded expectations thus far. Not many people had them winning the division, in fact, the Cincinnati Reds<\/a> looked like the clear favorite prior to Opening Day. Chicago has taken charge of a very tough division, one that may even get four teams into the postseason. Surprisingly, they have relied on their starting pitching to carry them throughout the season. It’s the reason they got off to such a strong start. Yu Darvish<\/strong><\/a> has emerged as the team’s ace and has been an NL Cy Young candidate<\/a> for most of the season. Pitcher Kyle Hendricks<\/strong><\/a> continues to show why he is nicknamed “The Professor”, and Alec Mills<\/a> <\/strong>has stepped up to fill a major hole in the rotation. Mills went from a reliever to solidifying himself in the rotation — he’s also added a no-hitter<\/a> to his resume. They’ve made life easy for first-time manager David Ross<\/strong><\/a>. Ross just became the Cubs seventh manager to make the postseason in his first year, and he joins some good company.<\/p>\n

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David Ross becomes the seventh @Cubs<\/a> manager to reach the postseason in their first season. pic.twitter.com\/5Okt38DC0I<\/a><\/p>\n

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) September 23, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n