bukie

Per Schefter it's sprained MCL, not torn, and he shouldn't miss much time. Not considered serious. A moderate sprain partially tears the ligament, producing joint instability, and some swelling.

Lacy apparently suffered a concussion during the game yesterday.

Texas became the first team mathematically eliminated from playoff contention last night by losing to the Mariners. The Rangers can no longer finish ahead of the A's, Angels or Mariners, and thus can't get a playoff spot.

Trey Martin hit what he thought was a game winning HR in the bottom of the 11th, but it hit off the top of the wall. Since he was watching it, he was thrown out at 2nd. No comment yet from Dave Kaplan as he searches for Martin's cultural origin.

The Cubs have used 46 players so far this year, for a net total of 30.7 fWAR: Name fWAR Anthony Rizzo 4.2 Jake Arrieta 3.9 Starlin Castro 2.7 Luis Valbuena 2.6 Travis Wood 2.3 Jeff Samardzija 2.1 Jason Hammel 1.9 Emilio Bonifacio 1.8 Welington Castillo 1.8 Chris Coghlan 1.7 Hector Rondon 1.6 Kyle Hendricks 1.1 Carlos Villanueva 0.9 Jorge Soler 0.8 Neil Ramirez 0.8 Edwin Jackson 0.8 Pedro Strop 0.7 Arismendy Alcantara 0.6 Logan Watkins 0.5 Tsuyoshi Wada 0.5 Darwin Barney 0.4 Justin Grimm 0.4 Justin Ruggiano 0.4 Brian Schlitter 0.3 Wesley Wright 0.3 Chris Valaika 0.2 Felix Doubront 0.2 Jacob Turner 0.2 Blake Parker 0.1 Dallas Beeler 0.1 Chris Rusin 0 Dan Straily 0 Rafael Lopez 0 Ryan Sweeney 0 Kyuji Fujikawa -0.1 Matthew Szczur -0.1 James Russell -0.2 Javier Baez -0.2 Zac Rosscup -0.2 Eli Whiteside -0.3 Jose Veras -0.3 Mike Olt -0.6 Ryan Kalish -0.6 Junior Lake -0.7 John Baker -0.9 Nate Schierholtz -1 30.7

Cubs pull Olt with bases loaded and 1 out in the 9th, because he got his 4 ABs. PH Lockhart promptly botches a suicide squeeze to cause the 2nd out, then lines out on the next pitch to send the game to extras.

Your National League batting average leader: Ben Revere, at .314, with a .330 OBP. I guess what I'm saying is Castro actually had a real shot at this the way he'd been hitting.

Thanks to the Brewers and Braves slides, the second wild card winner is projected to finish 84-78. So, all it's going to take is a 20-2 run to close out the season...

If MLB went by BaseRuns standings: AL East: Orioles 77-61 Rays 72-68 6 GB Blue Jays 71-67 6 GB Yankees 67-70 9.5 GB Red Sox 61-78 16.5 GB AL Central: Tigers 75-64 Indians 72-66 2.5 GB Royals 68-71 7 GB White Sox 65-74 10 GB Twins 65-74 10 GB AL West: A's 84-55 Angels 82-56 1.5 GB Mariners 75-63 8.5 GB Astros 66-74 18.5 GB Rangers 52-87 32 GB AL Wildcard: Angels 82-56 Mariners 75-63 Indians 72-66 3 GB Rays 72-68 4 GB Blue Jays 71-67 4 GB Royals 68-71 7.5 GB Yankees 67-70 7.5 GB Astros 66-74 10 GB White Sox 65-74 10.5 GB Twins 65-74 10.5 GB Red Sox 61-78 14.5 GB Rangers 52-87 23.5 GB NL East: Nationals 80-58 Braves 71-69 10 GB Marlins 66-72 14 GB Phillies 64-75 16.5 GB Mets 63-77 18 GB NL Central: Pirates 74-65 Cardinals 71-68 3 GB Cubs 71-69 3.5 GB Brewers 68-71 6 GB Reds 65-74 9 GB NL West: Dodgers 79-61 Giants 76-64 3 GB Rockies 64-76 15 GB Padres 63-75 15 GB Diamondbacks 60-79 18.5 GB NL Wildcard: Giants 76-64 Cardinals 71-68 Cubs 71-69 0.5 GB Braves 71-69 0.5 GB Brewers 68-71 3 GB Marlins 66-72 4.5 GB Reds 65-74 6 GB Phillies 64-75 7 GB Rockies 64-76 7.5 GB Padres 63-75 7.5 GB Mets 63-77 8.5 GB Diamondbacks 60-79 11 GB

Look, if Jay's not throwing for 7500 yards and 70 TDs, it's just not a good year for him.

Just as in June, when their Pythagorean was significantly better than better predictive models that showed the cubs weren't as good as the Pythagorean suggestion , now the more predictive models are much higher on the cubs. Their third order win percentage is .503, which translates to 70-70.

Grounds crew.

Cubs are currently closer to a playoff berth than they are to having the #1 pick.

The Cubs are now actually only 9.5 games out of the playoffs.

At least he cared enough to get the lyrics instead of winging it if he didn't know it.

10 team league, picked 2nd, non-PPR: QB: Brees RB: Charles, Spiller WR: Cruz, Garcon, Maclin TE: Julius Thomas K: Gould DEF: Kansas City BN: Cutler BN: Gore BN: Lamar Miller BN: Welker BN: Aaron Dobson BN: Heath Miller

Third order winning % standings are starting to look a little hilarious.

He was struggling with command (for him), and the situation began to look Grimm.

It's a little silly that the Cubs could graduate Alcantara, Baez, Hendricks and Soler this season, and still possibly have the two best prospects in baseball in the minors.

Can I just root for an insane Cub winning streak against the NL Central that propels them to the crown at, say, 84-78, while the rest of the division falls off?

And Trestman ok'd it. It's so weird. It's not something that's going to decide our season or anything, but...I'm not a fan. It's a non-story. Practice is every day, opening a restaurant happens once. It's not like he skipped practice to go eat at a restaurant.

Oh look, a Packer fan and Rick Morrissey combine to make a story out of nothing.

I just heard him on the Score and he didn't say he was getting an MRI. Just echoed the same stuff from yesterday that if it doesn't get any better today or tomorrow, they'll have him get an MRI. Is this a new report since that? Yeah there's been nothing definitive yet.

Cynic - "I can't believe this front office was allowed to not even try to do anything for 3 years" Rebuttal - "Look at how much better shape the system is in now. IT'S ALL HAPPENING AT ONCE." Cynic - "Well sure, but they didn't have to do things that way. They should have done things in a way that I enjoy." Rebuttal - "What would you have proposed they do differently?" Cynic - "I'm not the GM, it's not my job to tell them how they could have done things well." ...and around we go...

This reminds me of the time everyone flipped out on Rizzo when he failed to cover first in the 8th inning of a tie game, allowing the go-ahead run to score on a botched dropped third strike in a game the Cubs lost 4-3. Fortunately, Rizzo learned a valuable lesson that night.