Last night’s off-day gave me a chance to just watch a movie last night, and I went with ‘The Town.’ Been meaning to watch that one for a while, and glad I did. It’s good. I mean, it’s a good sign when my main grip about a movie is that I felt like there could have been so much *more* of it. There’s so much meat built into the background and the story there that I think if it’d come around six or seven years later, it might’ve been built out into an eight-part limited series for Netflix or HBO or whatever. Heck, the movie’s 10 years old, so maybe they could go ahead and just do that.
• Even as they were pushing closer to the Cubs in the standings, my caution on getting too riled up about the Cardinals was that they were still staring down a stretch where they were going to have to play far more games than there were days left in the season. The wall was coming, more likely than not. And the Cardinals are hitting it now, having lost last night to the Pirates, and going 5-9 over the past 10 days (yes, 14 games in 10 days). They’re now 6.0 games behind the Cubs, with another doubleheader on tap today.
• Worse for the Cardinals, they are suffering attrition. Kolten Wong and Yadi Molina are playing through injuries, and last night starter Dakota Hudson left after two innings with a forearm strain. As far as passing the Cubs goes, the Cardinals are toast.
• The Reds are now the team immediately behind the Cubs, at 5.5 games out. They were off yesterday, like the Cubs, but since the standings are mucked up by the Cardinals’ weird schedule, it was the Cardinals loss that dropped the Cubs’ divisional magic number to 7. Relative to the Reds, though, the Cubs’ divisional magic number is just 5. I know. It’s confusing, but the Reds number is the one that might matter most, since I’m thinking the Cardinals are just toast, and the Reds are hot. Oh, also, the Cubs have the playoff magic number, too, which I *think* is also 5, because it would require both the Cardinals and Reds to pass them. Suffice to say, if the Cubs win at least 5 of their last 10 games, the division is theirs. Let’s just keep sticking with that. The Reds open a series tonight against the White Sox in Cincinnati.
• Speaking of the White Sox, they just clinched their first playoff berth in 12 years. They’re 3.0 games up on the Twins, too, so winning the AL Central is well within reach. I say good for the White Sox. See you in the World Series.
• It was great to see Jeremy Jeffress bounce back this week with a very Jeremy Jeffress outing – pound the zone, make ’em hit it, watch ’em struggle. More broadly, Jeffress tells NBC Sports Chicago that he really feels like himself again, which wasn’t a guaranteed thing this year after a 2019 beset by injuries and underperformance. His increased reliance on his excellent splitter is doing a whole lotta work to offset his loss in fastball velocity, and he might be a guy who has very quickly made the successful transition to pitching with lower velocity in his 30s (he turns 33 in a few days).
• Happy birthday to Ryne Sandberg:
Happy birthday to the one and only Ryno! 🦏 pic.twitter.com/d3n9DcPvrJ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 18, 2020
• People are looking at Jeimer Candelario, former Cubs prospect, as a 2020 breakout:
Turns out the Tigers—a brief surprise, flirting with .500 and a playoff spot—won’t be part of the October fun. But amid their unexpected season, one thing does seem for real: Jeimer Candelario, ex-top prospect. @_TonyWolfe_ on his breakout campaign. https://t.co/juTo0AgYlD
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) September 17, 2020
• Now 26, the switch-hitting third baseman is raking this year (.325/.381/.554, 151 wRC+) largely on the strength of a greatly reduced strikeout rate and a whole lotta barrels up the middle. That’s kinda the guy you could see as his ceiling as a prospect, but it’s taken him parts of five big league seasons to translate what he was doing in the minor leagues. Always worth remembering when it comes to positional prospects who debut very young: sometimes it takes a while. The Cubs sent Candelario and Isaac Paredes to the Tigers for Justin Wilson and Alex Avila at the deadline three years ago. Avila was great, but Wilson was a disaster down the stretch when the Cubs needed him. Avila then left in free agency, and Wilson was a lot better in 2018, but far from the kind of dominant force that wouldn’t leave you with second thoughts.
