The Chicago Cubs were heading to the playoffs, but they weren’t playing up to par with Game 1 of the National League wild-card series only five days away.
Cubs President Jed Hoyer tried to balance his joy over the former with his concern for the latter.
It has not been easy.
“I don’t like to lose,” Hoyer said Friday before the Cubs’ 12-1 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals. “So that creates angst. I think I can keep those two things separately. Yes, it was nice to clinch on Sept. 16. That gave us the ability to not redline some guys and try to head into the postseason with some rest. That’s really important.
“But obviously the way we’ve played the last week has been frustrating. No one likes to lose, so of course there is a level of frustration with that.”
The Cubs came in having lost six of seven since the clincher and still were waiting to secure home-field advantage in the wild-card series against the San Diego Padres, which seemed like a done deal only a week ago.
That made the opener of the final weekend of the regular season more than just a throwaway afternoon of sunning and guzzling by Cubs fans at the corner of Clark and Addison streets.
The Cubs cruised to their 90th win. Home runs from Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch fueled the offense to a 4-0 lead, and Seiya Suzuki’s grand slam in the seven-run seventh turned it into a laugher. Colin Rea pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, and the Cubs reduced their magic number for clinching the home field for the wild-card series to one before the Padres’ night game in San Diego against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Crow-Armstrong’s two-run blast in the fourth was his 30th, joining Sammy Sosa as the only Cubs in the 30-30 club (home runs and steals). Sosa accomplished the feat twice, in 1993 and ’95. Crow-Armstrong also became the first player in franchise history with 30 home runs, 30 steals and 30 doubles, while Suzuki became the third Japanese player with 30 home runs, joining Hideki Matsui and Shohei Ohtani, and also passed the 100-RBI mark with 101.
Right fielder Kyle Tucker made his long-awaited return to the lineup at DH on Friday after being sidelined since suffering a left calf injury Sept. 2, a setback no one thought would last three-plus weeks. He’ll have only three games to prepare for Tuesday’s opener. Tucker went 1-for-4, grounding weakly to first in the first inning, singling up the middle in the fourth, flying out to center in the sixth, walking in the seventh and popping out to third in the eighth.
Hoyer called Tucker “our best hitter” and a potential National League MVP during the first two months of the season. But he also acknowledged three games isn’t a lot of time for Tucker to get back in a groove for the playoffs.
“Hopefully he can recognize pitches well and get back in the swing of things quickly,” Hoyer said. “Because we face a lot of good pitching in the postseason.”
First baseman Carlos Santana, a late-season pickup who hit .105 (2-for-19) in eight games, was optioned to the Arizona complex to make room for Tucker. Counsell said Santana would be on the taxi squad to start the postseason.
Rea was dominant Friday, allowing only two hits while striking out seven, but the Cubs’ wild-card series rotation remained the hot topic at Wrigley, with everyone worried about the status of the Big Three.
Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga are expected to be the available starters in the best-of-three matchup, but the Cubs won’t announce their plans until just before the series begins.
“We have time to make decisions,” Hoyer said. “You guys will keep asking, and we’ll keep telling you we’ll push them off.”
Horton threw in the outfield Friday, three days after suffering a rib injury in a 29-pitch outing against the New York Mets. He’s expected to throw a bullpen session this weekend, and Counsell sounded optimistic Horton would be ready for a playoff start next week.
Hoyer listed all the people who will weigh in on the rotation decisions, which seemed to include everyone except president of business operations Crane Kenney and Clark the Cub.
But in the end, it’ll be up to Hoyer and Counsell.
Both voiced concern Friday over the recent outings of Imanaga, who has served up seven home runs over 15 2/3 innings in his last three starts with an 8.04 ERA. But it appears he’ll be pitching in the opening round if needed.
“He obviously struggled the last few times out and the home run ball has been an issue,” Hoyer said, referring to his 24 home runs allowed in 16 starts since July 2. “He has a great track record. In a perfect world everyone throws a shutout before they head into the postseason. That’s not always the case.
“But he’s pitched a lot in his career and in his life, and I know he’s going to be working on some things and looking at some things before his next outing. The level of concern (for) him in general is not high, but certainly there are things we will be looking to adjust moving forward.”
Jameson Taillon, who has been the Cubs’ second-best starter lately after Horton, is scheduled to start Saturday, which suggests he won’t be available unless there is a Game 3 on Thursday. But the important thing was playing at home, which Hoyer said was as much for the fans as the players.
“It’s kind of a gift you want to give them,” he said.