The Chicago Cubs won the National League Central on Thursday when St Louis lost 6-2 at San Francisco, becoming the first major league team this season to clinch a division crown. It’s the Cubs’ first divisional title since 2008, and they’ve done it earlier than any other time in their history.
The Cubs lost 5-4 to the Milwaukee Brewers, but captured their first NL Central crown since 2008 a few hours later when the Giants sealed their victory over the Cardinals.
Wrigley Field was empty when Matt Adams made the final out on the west coast, yet a loud cheer went up in the neighborhood around the ballpark and several people honked their car horns.
“This is just the first step,” manager Joe Maddon said after the Cubs’ game but before the Cardinals’ loss. “I mean, we have much larger baseball fish to fry in our skillet.”
The Cubs have gone 108 years without a World Series, but they enter the postseason as favorites, and Vegas has them at 9-4 to win the whole thing. As division winners, the Cubs will open the postseason by hosting game one of the National League Division Series on 7 October.
“We’ve got a lot ahead of us. We really do,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said before the Cubs’ loss. “It kind of all boils down to how you perform in October.”
Led by a stellar pitching staff and MVP contenders Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, Chicago got off to a sizzling 25-6 start to the season. After stumbling into the All-Star break, the Cubs pulled away with a 22-6 August that turned the NL Central race into a mere formality.
“There’s no team I’d rather be going into October with,” Epstein said. “But there are never favorites in October the same way there are in the regular season.”
Chicago (93-53) wasted its opportunity to clinch on its own when pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett delivered a tie-breaking, two-run double in the seventh inning for Milwaukee. Keon Broxton homered and Orlando Arcia drove in two runs for the Brewers.
“It was just a flat-out good ball game,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “Obviously, with where they’re at, there was great energy in the park tonight.”
The Giants, meanwhile, gained a game on the NL West-leading Dodgers, who are ahead by four after losing 7-3 at Arizona. San Francisco also moved a game in front of the idle New York Mets and two up on the Cardinals in the chase for the two NL wild cards.
