30

Holy mackerel! The Cubs held on to beat Milwaukee 2-1 on Thursday night behind a dominant start from Kevin Gausman (7 IP, 1 ER, 9 K) and a two-run homer from August NL Player of the Month Pete Crow-Armstrong!

 

Armstrong's blast was his 39th of the season and came in the 3rd inning. Ryan Zeferjahn tossed a 1-2-3 8th and Ryan Rolison went 1-2-3 in the 9th to earn the save.

 

Cubs Magic Numbers:

    Division:  30
    Top Wild Card & Home Field:  22
    Wild Card:  16  

See this post for CMN calculation details.
 
Here's how the remainder of the season shapes up:
 

6 vs. 70-69 Miami (3 road, 3 home)
3 at 87-54 Milwaukee
3 vs. 69-72 Pittsburgh (home)
3 vs. 83-57 Atlanta (home)
3 at 67-73 Cincinnati
3 at 75-65 Boston

The Cubs currently sit eight games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, 1/2 game behind Philadelphia in the race for the top NL Wild Card berth and its benefit of home field for all NLWCS games, and 5.5 games ahead of San Diego for the final NL Wild Card berth.
 
139 games down, 21 to go.
 
Go Cubs go! 

 

2016 World Series Champion Coach Brandon Hyde