The overwhelming majority of the guys to play for the Cubs aren’t Chicago born and bred, so excuse them for not seeing the Crosstown series against the White Sox as the biggest three days of the year.
But for at least the first two nights of this week’s series, they played like it had been circled on their calendars, grabbing a pair of walk-off wins against a first-place team in what could easily be described as a playoff-type atmosphere at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs did next to nothing offensively in Wednesday’s series finale, a 3-0 loss in which they only mustered two hits. But it was another series win against a postseason-caliber team.
If the back half of August and the whole of September are about readying for the challenges of playoff baseball, they made more than a couple statements about what they’re capable of this week.
“You can feel the attention to detail, the energy this group plays with,” righty starter Clay Holmes said. “You can feel there’s a strong desire to be really good.
“We know what we’re capable of, and you see people go about their work and how they show up for gametime with that in mind. When you have 26 guys that are doing that, showing up every day with that desire … good things are going to happen.”
Forget the Cubs-Sox championship rematch talk for now. This team is doing it’s whole “one game at a time” thing.
But in one game at a time, they got an MVP display from center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and another marquee moment in third baseman Alex Bregman’s late-summer awakening, previewing a couple potential superstars of October.
The Cubs didn’t need the Sox to come up Lake Shore Drive to affirm they’re able to make some noise in the postseason. Just two weeks back, they swept the Dodgers in this ballpark. They’ve won twice as many games as they’ve lost (40-20) since June 11 and own the fifth best record in baseball.
After a streaky start to the campaign — two 10-game win streaks early, then a 10-game losing streak — things have stabilized, and they look like contenders.
“We’ve had stretches this year earlier in the year where we’ve been the hottest team in baseball, then the coldest team in baseball, then the hottest team in baseball again,” Bregman said. “The main thing in this second half is just being consistent and playing consistent baseball, and I feel like we’ve done a good job of that in all three phases of the game.”
Enter Arias
With shortstop Dansby Swanson on the IL and expected to miss four weeks, the Cubs added to their infield mix Wednesday, claiming veteran infielder Gabriel Arias off waivers.
Arias, a veteran of five major league seasons, played in 44 games with the Guardians and Mets this year, batting .235 with a career-best .645 OPS and appearances at all four infield positions.
Palencia back Friday
Righty reliever Daniel Palencia will return from the injured list Friday.
Palencia has been on the IL for more than two months working back from elbow inflammation, limited to only 16⅔ major league innings this season.
Back into the rotation?
With righty Edward Cabrera on the IL, there’s a vacancy in the Cubs’ rotation.
Will lefty David Peterson step back in after he was bumped to the bullpen when Cabrera returned from a hamstring injury last weekend?
“David Peterson’s going to be involved on Saturday,” manager Craig Counsell said, not getting any more specific.
Stay tuned.
