The young center fielder seemed to launch himself into superstardom in the first half this year, with 20 doubles, 21 homers, and 25 steals through the end of June. That worked out to a .263/.299/.537 slash line, good for a 128 wRC+ with elite defense in center field that made him an early rival for Shohei Ohtani in this year's MVP race.
The back-and-forth between Brewers and Cubs fans has quickly become tiresome - and it's even more prosaic when White Sox fans get involved - but it shouldn't absolve Jed Hoyer. Analytics and voodoo magic aside, Chicago's North Side Baseballers have finished behind Milwaukee in the NL Central in every season since the 2018 tiebreaker game. That has to change. Hoyer may have to re-blueprint his roster as well. The potential loss of Kyle Tucker means finding left-handed power to replace him,
For those of you who didn't watch Saturday's game, the Cubs won the series against the Cardinals and by doing so, have clinched the top wild card in the National League. As of now, based on the standings this time of year, the Cubs will host the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field for all three games (if necessary) of the wild card series.
My emotions are going in several directions at this point in the 2025 season. I'm still sad over the Red Sox early exit from the playoffs; I really believed that we'd at least take the Yankees down. I don't feel the intense bitterness of, say, 2003-I'm just sad. Saturday's Toronto/New York ALDS game gave me a major case of the side-eyes too; why couldn't we get it together to score a bunch of runs against Yankee pitching?! Dammit, offense, where were you?
More importantly, it made the score 6-1 Cubs, with what looked like a lot of bad road ahead. The Mets hadn't exactly covered themselves in glory so far Tuesday night: David Peterson was terrible, looking again like a pitcher whose tank is on E, and didn't make it out of the second; Juan Soto misplayed a flyball into a two-run double; and Francisco Alvarez allowed two steals while concentrating on framing and/or looking for rulings on checked swings.
PITTSBURGH -- Ian Happ homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs clinched their first postseason berth since 2020 with an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. Chicago has won four in a row and seven of eight overall. It leads the National League wild-card standings with an 88-64 record. Nico Hoerner had two hits and scored three times for the Cubs. Justin Turner hit a pair of RBI singles after entering in the sixth.
The Cubs may be looking at going into the postseason without their closer. Daniel Palencia entered the ninth inning of Chicago's game against the Nationals earlier today, but surrendered five runs and was pulled without recording an out. The team termed Palencia's ailment "shoulder tightness" at the time of his removal, but manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score) following the game that, more specifically, Palencia was suffering from a posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder.
