Cubs Week In Review: The Cubs Are Rolling & A Playoff Berth Is Within Reach

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Out of seemingly nowhere, the Chicago Cubs are playing their best baseball of the year and, by the looks of it, are a playoff-caliber team. With twenty-five games left and only 3.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot, Craig Counsell's squad is firmly planted in the conversation for postseason contention and has excited fans about this club's potential future. There's a lot to take in from this past week, so let's dive in to see how it all went down.

Image courtesy of © Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

There was a point in this season when April was frequently looked to as evidence that the Cubs could score runs. In the last nine games, the North Side ball club has scored an almost unfathomable 89 runs. In game one of a three-game series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates, the baseball world got a crash course in just how scorching hot this team's offense is right now. Opposite his counterpart Mitch Keller, the Cubs' righty Jameson Taillon took the bump in this one. Going 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits, Taillon put forth a performance that would have resulted in a crushing loss were it played this past May or June, but with the Cubby bats cruising the way they are, it was more than enough. The Cubs put traffic on the base pads throughout the game.  The revelatory shortstop Dansby Swanson assaulted a two-out grand slam, which proved the exclamation mark as part of an eight-run sixth inning. Elsewhere, the Cubs' middle of the order appeared unstoppable, with Suzuki, Bellinger, and Paredes all recording multi-hit games. 

Final Score: 18-8 Cubs

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Though not as dominant as last season, Justin Steele is a starting pitcher no opposing team's manager wants to deal with. After giving up two first-inning runs, the Mississippi bulldog delivered 5.0 innings pitched, striking out six and walking just two. The Cubs got key offensive production from Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson, who accounted for five of the club's nine runs. Surprise slugger Miguel Amaya, now batting well above the Mendoza Line, went 2-4 and drove in two runs in this series-clinching contest. 

Final Score: 9-5 Cubs

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Claiming what was undoubtedly their biggest win of the season to date, the Cubs erased a seven-run deficit against Paul Skene's Pirates to earn the most implausible sweep of the season. Scoring eleven unanswered runs, Craig Counsell's team employed Cole Wright's motto: "If you've got a 1% chance, you've got a 100% chance". Chipping away at Pittsburgh's lead in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, Chicago used a six-run ninth to complete the remarkable comeback. The fight this team showed in this one was awe-inspiring, especially that of catcher Christian Bethancourt, who drove in seven runs. Cubs fans who stuck around long enough at home and in person were treated to pure theater. 

Final Score: 14-10 Cubs

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After Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam turned up the volume at Wrigley in their first of a two-night engagement, Shota Imanaga and the Cubs banded together in game one against the Washington Nationals for yet another vital win. The Cubs' rookie sensation set down eight Nats batters and got through an impressive six innings of work. Offensively, the Cubbies continued to rake, with critical run production from Cody Bellinger, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and a surging Dansby Swanson. 

Final Score: 7-6 Cubs

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The Cubs used timely hitting and even more timely pitching to propel themselves over the .500 this week. That formula didn't change in game two versus the Nats. Though he gave up all three of Washington's runs, Javier Assad worked through an admirable six innings in which he struck out only four, but more importantly, kept his squad in the game. The North Siders used a four-run fifth inning to get out in front and give Assad his seventh win of the season. The win ensured the Cubbies' fifth-consecutive series win and was something of a return to form for the Cubs' bullpen. 

Final Score: 5-3 Cubs

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The series finale versus the Nats allowed the Cubs to earn their second straight sweep and climb to five games over the .500 mark. They made the most of that chance. On the eve of Labor Day, the freshly healthy Jordan Wicks and his club crushed Dave Martinez's squad. Having just returned from the 60-Day IL, we haven't seen much from Wicks in some time, but he was reasonably satisfying in this one. Going five innings, Wicks looked resilient, allowing just one earned run on four hits. His name has come up a lot in this article, but what Dansby Swanson is doing right now can't even be called vintage because it's hard to say he's ever been as good as he's been during this current run. He went 4-6 and came around to score twice. If the Cubs do find a way into the postseason, it will be mainly because they never want to be out of a game and can pour it on when it's a romp such as it was today. 

Final Score: 14-1 Cubs

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The Cubs are a good baseball team. Not just right now but on the whole. If this club had played even close to this level in the early summer months, we'd be talking about a Cubs team that probably would have already clinched a playoff spot at this point. Up next for the Cubbies, it's back to Wrigley, where they will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games. After that, this postseason push gets exponentially more difficult as the Yankees come calling to close out the six-game homestand. Securing the right to call this season a success will be a tough task, but that's a good problem to have right now. 

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