The Latest Breaking News from Seiya Suzuki

Exciting MLB game as Cubs defeat Reds with Swanson's homer in a rain-delayed showdown at Wrigley Field. Suzuki's error and grand slam add drama.

Baseball giveth and baseball taketh away.

Imanaga was part of what vice president of pro scouting Andrew Bassett described as a “wow” class of talent coming over from Japan this year.

Rats. We can spare so many, and Texas is so big, a reader from Streamwood writes. Or, how about Seiya Suzuki’s whiffs for all of last season?

Alcantara said the Cubs’ main message before reporting to Arizona was improving his pitch selection. He had a 23.8% strikeout rate in 408 plate appearances at South Bend.

It was a teamwide breakdown in September. If that’s “resilient,” as manager David Ross called it, we’re going to need a new dictionary.

Alzolay said he hopes to be reinstated Friday.

An awful error that was so hard to watch.

The Braves took the lead on Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki’s two-out error in the eighth inning. The Cubs dropped a game behind the Diamondbacks in the battle for the second wild-card spot and saw their lead over the Marlins for the third and final spot cut to a half-game.

The innocent romances of pre-2016 playoff years are relics, but if we can find our inner rubes — they’ve got to be in there somewhere — it might be a lot of fun.

Baseball by the Numbers: Bellinger’s 2.53 WPA leads Ian Happ’s 1.85, Nico Hoerner’s 1.61 and Mike Tauchman’s 1.26. A WPA of 1 represents adding 100% to the chance of winning one game.