{"id":60856,"date":"2023-08-20T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=60856"},"modified":"2023-08-19T23:54:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T03:54:58","slug":"deadline-candelario-cubs-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/20\/deadline-candelario-cubs-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deadline Acquisition That&#8217;s Fueling the Cubs&#8217; Playoff Push"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/cubs-vs-royals-taillon-and-ragans-set-to-battle\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Cubs<\/a> acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/candeje01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeimer Candelario<\/a> on August 1st, they&#8217;ve had one of the league&#8217;s top offenses, and it&#8217;s been badly needed. Chicago was only one game above .500 at the MLB trade deadline. Candelario&#8217;s addition to the offense has caused both team and player to thrive, and the Cubs have gained three games in the National League Wild Card standings. They now only sit a half-game back from a playoff spot after going 10-6 in August, with Candelario playing a marquee role in their surge.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This man be MOVIN&#8217;! \ud83d\udca8 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5IBl1VqMno\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5IBl1VqMno<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Cubs\/status\/1692975005385027982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 19, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Candelario &amp; The Cubs Offense Clicking<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Candelario began the season with the Washington Nationals after signing a one-year, 5 million dollar contract. He was traded to Chicago at the trade deadline in exchange for two minor leaguers. Since debuting for the Cubs on August 1st, Candelario has slashed .385\/.467\/.577, amassing 20 hits in just 52 at-bats. In that time, the Cubs&#8217; offense has surged, ranking 5th in the league in WRC+ at 121, according to\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/leaders\/major-league?pos=all&amp;stats=bat&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=0&amp;type=c%2C4%2C6%2C11%2C12%2C13%2C21%2C-1%2C34%2C35%2C40%2C41%2C-1%2C23%2C37%2C38%2C50%2C317%2C61%2C-1%2C111%2C-1%2C203%2C199%2C58&amp;season=2023&amp;month=1000&amp;season1=2023&amp;ind=0&amp;team=0%2Cts&amp;rost=0&amp;age=0&amp;filter=&amp;players=0&amp;startdate=2023-08-01&amp;enddate=2023-08-19&amp;sortcol=16&amp;sortdir=desc&amp;v_cr=202301\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fangraphs<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0(100 is the league average). As a result, the Cubs&#8217; playoff hopes have only increased in the weeks since the trade deadline. They&#8217;ve gone 5-5 in their last ten games but have won 3 of their previous five series. They also split a two-game set with their crosstown rivals earlier this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">An Increased Burden<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Cubs&#8217; playoff push coincided with some less exciting developments around the team&#8217;s pitching staff. Chicago&#8217;s arms rank 24th in the league in ERA since the deadline, grappling to a 5.18 mark. The team&#8217;s rotation carries the bulk of the blame, as they&#8217;ve given up nearly six runs per nine innings (5.95). Though\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/steelju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Justin Steele<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0has pitched like a top-of-the-rotation starter this season (14-3, 2.80 ERA), players like\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendrky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Kyle Hendricks<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/taillja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jameson Taillon<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0must carry the load. With the news of\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stromma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Marcus Stroman<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;s rib cartilage fracture this week, the Cubs&#8217; rotation will be short-handed soon. With the strength of a fully loaded pitching staff, the offense will be able to continue to score runs in bunches.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Chicago&#8217;s Outlook<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If the Cubs&#8217; playoff push is to be successful, Jeimer Candelario has proven to be a key component in the team&#8217;s success. Chicago is entering a soft period in their schedule. Their next eight games are against teams trailing their divisions by double-digit games (<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/17\/mariners-vs-royals-witt-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Kansas City<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/a-battle-of-al-central-rivals-cleveland-guardians-vs-detroit-tigers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Detroit<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/twins-take-on-pirates-in-exciting-mlb-showdown-at-target-field\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">). With a struggling pitching staff, Candelario and the rest of the Cubs hitters will be shouldering a significant burden. However, if the last two-plus weeks are any indication, they will be up to the task.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the Chicago Cubs acquired Jeimer Candelario on August 1st, they&#8217;ve had one of the league&#8217;s top offenses, and it&#8217;s been badly needed. Chicago was only one game above .500 at the MLB trade deadline. Candelario&#8217;s addition to the offense has caused both team and player to thrive, and the Cubs have gained three games [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4771,"featured_media":60862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1071],"tags":[85,1060,1297,5933,51,75,285,231],"class_list":["post-60856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-mlb","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-jameson-taillon","tag-jeimer-candelario","tag-justin-steele","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kyle-hendricks","tag-marcus-stroman","tag-pittsburgh-pirates"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}