7

Holy mackerel! The Cubs beat the Braves 7-3 on Monday behind a nice start from David Peterson (6 IP, 1 ER, 7 K) and a 4-for-5 night (HR, 2B, SB, 4 RBI) from Pete Crow-Armstrong!

 

PCA's homer was his 42nd of the season, and his stolen base was his 37th. With that homer, Pete ties Hall of Famer Billy Williams for the most home runs in a season by a left-handed Cubs hitter. Sweet Swinging Billy accomplished the feat in 1970.

 

Cubs Magic Numbers:

Division:  22
1st Wild Card & Home Field:  11
Wild Card:  7

See this post for CMN calculation details. 

Here's how the Cubs' remaining schedule shapes up: 

2 vs. 88-62 Atlanta
3 at 70-80 Cincinnati
3 vs. 74-76 Miami
3 at 82-68 Boston

The Cubs currently sit atop the NL Wild Card race and its benefit of home field for all NLWCS games, 1/2 game ahead of the Phillies. They also hold the tiebreaker (a 6-1 record in the season series).

 

The North Siders sit 4.5 games ahead of Arizona for the final Wild Card berth, and they hold the tiebreaker there as well with a 4-2 record against the Diamondbacks.

 

And in the Central, the Men in Blue are 9.5 games back of Milwaukee, whose magic number to win the division is down to two.

151 games down, 11 to go.

Go Cubs go!

 

  

Image Credits (from tonight's game!):  Fally, a CMN Regular

Happy birthday, Fally!