The Chicago Cubs have punched their ticket to October again, but the job is only half finished.
A 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field on Thursday sealed a postseason berth for the Cubs with three games left to play. It also sent Pete Crow-Armstrong into the 40/40 Club, a milestone that fit neatly into a night the organization will remember for all the right reasons.
What comes next is the part Chicago still has to sort out. The Cubs are headed to the playoffs for a second straight year, but they’re still fighting to claim the top Wild Card spot and secure home-field advantage in the opening round. That mattered last year, when the crowd at the Friendly Confines helped push them past the Padres in a winner-take-all Game 3 and into the NLDS.
For much of the season, the path here has been uneven. Chicago opened with a ten-game winning streak, then stumbled into a ten-game losing streak that raised real questions about the offense, especially with runners in scoring position. Injuries only made things messier, with starters and relievers spending long stretches on the injured list.
Even so, the Cubs stabilized enough to look like a legitimate threat, and that pushed Jed Hoyer to act aggressively at the trade deadline. Chicago added Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes to shore up the rotation, then brought in Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn and outfielder Tyrone Taylor. All four have been part of the second-half push, and Gausman and Holmes look like near-locks to be in a shortened postseason rotation.
The division race never really gave Chicago the opening it wanted. Milwaukee stayed dominant, and the Cubs were unable to close the gap even when they were within striking distance in August.
Craig Counsell had a shot at revenge against his former club, but the Cubs’ bullpen struggles helped derail that chase. Milwaukee then split the second-to-last series between the teams before sweeping the final set, which helped tighten the Wild Card picture even more.
Now San Diego is the team sitting right on Chicago’s heels. The Cubs and Padres had been tied for several days before San Diego moved into the No.
1 Wild Card spot on Wednesday night. Philadelphia is also still in the mix and can stay tied with the Cubs tonight against the Brewers.
Chicago does own the tiebreaker over both clubs because of its regular-season series advantage, but there are still five games left, and every one of them matters.
The Cubs may not be carrying the hottest momentum into next week, but they’ve done enough to make themselves a dangerous opponent. Crow-Armstrong and the offense have flashed plenty of firepower, and Chicago has already shown it can handle the teams it’s now chasing in the Wild Card race.
The celebration at Wrigley can wait. The bigger prize is still out there.
In Other News...
Cubs Wild Card Rotation Suddenly Hinges On One Concerning Injury
Kevin Gausmans status has suddenly become one of the biggest questions hanging over the Cubs as they look ahead to the postseason. The right-hander hurt his left shoulder while making a defensive play against the Miami Marlins, and manager Craig Counsell confirmed the injury after the game. Gausman later said the shoulder felt weak afterward, which is hardly the kind of update a team wants to hear with October approaching.
Now the Cubs are left to wait and see how the next few days unfold. His availability for the postseason will depend on how the shoulder responds, and that puts extra attention on a rotation spot that looked a lot more settled before this setback. For a team trying to line up its pitching for a Wild Card run, the timing of the injury makes the coming monitoring period especially important. [Read more 🡒]
Former Cubs Architect Is Suddenly Back In A Front Office Spotlight
Jason McLeod, a familiar name from the Cubs rebuild years, has popped back into the front-office conversation in a way that should catch the attention of anyone who watched Chicago climb from a long-term project into a contender. Now a special assistant and vice president of baseball operations with the Arizona Diamondbacks, McLeod was mentioned in an anonymous MLB agent survey as a preferred candidate for a general manager job, with the responses grouping him alongside other executives and managers as a strong leadership fit.
For Cubs fans, it is a reminder that the people who helped shape that era are still getting noticed around the industry. There has been no confirmed move or official job opening tied to McLeod, and his future at the top of an MLB front office remains speculative for now, but the mention alone is enough to put him back on the radar in a league that is always searching for the next well-regarded operator. [Read more 🡒]
David Ross Faces More Pressure As Managerial Chances Start Shrinking
Andy Greens new three-year commitment to the Mets is another reminder of how quickly the managerial market can tighten, and how many familiar names are already moving off the board. Green, who once served as the Cubs bench coach and later managed the Padres from 2016 to 2019, has now gone from interim stopgap to a more secure role in New York, giving another veteran option a longer runway elsewhere in the league.
For the Cubs, the broader picture matters because future vacancies can shape Ross standing in a hurry. The article points to a league landscape that could open up again, with Ross still in the mix as a possible candidate, but each new hire narrows the pool and raises the pressure on anyone waiting for the right opening. [Read more 🡒]