SAN DIEGO – After more than five months of uneven, unremarkable baseball this season, the Cubs have five series after this one to get it right.
And the five guys who have the most to say about it?
Meet the difference makers in whether the Cubs play a game in October this year – never mind more than one:
Cole Hamels
The Cubs’ left-hander with the four All-Star selections and postseason pedigree has won just once since returning from an oblique injury even starts ago, and his ERA in his last six starts is 8.53 – failing to pitch four innings in half of those six.
If he isn’t part of a final-push renaissance for the Cubs’ rotation, the off-season is all but assured of starting early for the Cubs.
“I wouldn’t say I’m lost out there,” he said. “I know the few issues I’ve been trying to battle and trying to get the reps [to solve], and it hasn’t come. It’s not a good thing. Time’s ticking and this is why I’m here. It’s to get the job done and continue to put good games out there for this team and give them and opportunity to win, and I’m not doing so. … But at least I have four more starts to make a dent in obviously helping this team win.”
Next up: Wednesday night against his hometown San Diego Padres.
Jack Flaherty
The Cardinals right-hander might be baseball’s best pitcher in the second half, going 6-1 with a 0.76 ERA in 11 starts since the All-Star break, with 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings. That includes seven scoreless innings against the Cubs on Aug. 1.
He leads a rotation (3.23 in the second half) that is a big reason the Cardinals have one of the best records in baseball since the All-Star break (36-19) and best in baseball the last month (23-7).
If the Cardinals stay in their current rotation the rest of the way, he’s lined up to face the Cubs at least once more, at Wrigley Field, down the stretch, and then the wild-card contending Diamondbacks the final week of the season.
And potentially, Game 1 of the playoffs.
PJ Mainville
The Cubs head athletic trainer has been one of the most overworked members of the organization all season, and his workload has never been more important as he tries to keep Kris Bryant’s troublesome right knee functional, monitors closer Craig Kimbrel’s elbow, sweats out starter Yu Darvish’s forearm and Willson Contreras’ hamstring, etc., etc.
“Oh, my God,” manager Joe Maddon said when asked if Mainville needs a blow. “And you wanted to be a big-league, head athletic trainer?”
Ben Zobrist
After four months away from the team taking care of family matters, the Cubs’ best leadoff hitter returned to the top spot of the lineup a week ago and has started there Tuesday night for the fifth time in seven games.
How big a deal is that? Entering play Tuesday, the switch-hitting Zobrist, 38, was hitting .304 with a .382 on-base percentage this season as a leadoff hitter.
All the other leadoff men the Cubs have used this season have combined to hit .190 with a .272 on-base percentage – leading to an overall, worst-in-baseball .286 OBP, one of the big reasons for this year’s roller-coaster team production.
Nico Hoerner
“No one expects him to be a savior here whatsoever,” player development executive Jason McLeod said, echoing the sentiments of team president Theo Epstein.
Tough.
If last year’s first-round draft pick didn’t bring the expectations with him when he debuted Monday out of extreme necessity, he created them with his historic, 3-for-5, four-RBI debut to ignite the Cubs’ victory over the Padres.
Even if the Cubs actually get one of their shortstops back in the next few days, the Class AA prospect-turned-savior is expected to get playing time at second or in the outfield for a lineup thirsting for his energy – not to mention contact-hitting skills.
