The Chicago Cubs, with a win on Wednesday and a San Diego Padres loss, now walk into Thursday’s game with the New York Mets with their magic number for the top Wild Card seed at 2. This means that they are just two clicks away from having home field advantage throughout the opening three-game Wild Card series.
The team and the fans at Wrigley Field had a great time in getting to this point on Wednesday, when the early-season Cubs reappeared and stomped the Mets 10-3 in a game that featured just the right blend of offense, pitching, and Cubbie dramatics.
Just about 24 hours ago, though, things were looking quite different.
Chicago Cubs: From gloom to glee in a day
There was still no real target date for a Kyle Tucker return. Closer Daniel Palencia had yet to be activated from the IL. Matthew Boyd was coming into his last start of the regular season with a long string of subpar performances behind him. Rookie of the Year favorite Cade Horton, meanwhile, had been pulled from the game prior with back stiffness.
But what a difference a day makes.
Kyle Tucker’s ETA, Daniel Palencia’s return
“I think our goal right now, and I talked to Kyle today about it, is to be in the lineup on Friday,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters before Wednesday’s game, finally offering a firm target date for the four-time All-Star’s return. “I think we’re trending towards that. I don’t have a report on today, but in talking to him before the day started and while the day was going on inside, we were on the same page with that.”
The return comes with a caveat, though. Tucker will likely DH first and be urged to not go full-out.
“I don’t think the symptoms are gonna be gone, but I think he’s in a place where he agrees that we’ve gotta go,” Counsell said. “We’ve gotta see what it feels like to play. I think maybe the games can help him here and give him some confidence in a certain situation.
“We’ll probably put a governor on it. I will encourage him to not go all out when you don’t have to. And to keep it 80-90% but that’s kinda where we’re at.”
Nice.
Then, also prior to Wednesday’s game, closer Daniel Palencia was activated from the IL.
The 25-year-old would go on to pitch two-thirds of an inning in a low-leverage, low-stress situation in direct relief of starter Matthew Boyd. In the 10 pitches thrown, he was touching triple-digits again and seemed to have his normal stuff.
Matthew Boyd, PCA are back?
And, speaking of Boyd, The lefty, who had been the Cubs’ rotation MVP over the first four months of the season, delivered a pretty solid outing, giving up 2 earned runs over 5.1 innings. To see at least one more solid outing from the veteran after a string of poor ones was a major positive, especially considering the importance of his presence in the postseason.
Even Pete Crow-Armstrong was back to doing Pete Crow-Armstrong things Wednesday night. The speedy 23-year-old would dash his way to score from second base on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, creating all kinds of emotion along the way.
PCA is geared up and ready for his first October postseason run.
“Wrigley’s already got it in ‘em,” Crow-Armstrong told media after the game. “Everybody that shows up — they’re ready to party. Everybody knows that we’re getting close to October baseball, and with that feeling in the air, being able to embrace that is the most fun thing ever.
“…I love playing here, and I love it more and more each day. That sounds cliche, but it’s so, so true.
“…Being able to give these fans October baseball, that’s going to be real special. It’s gonna be special for me, experiencing it for the first time, and then Ian [Happ], being able to be back and doing it again.”
Coming off a season-worst five-game losing streak, a day like Wednesday is definitely a godsend. Now, the task is to extend that forward momentum into the playoffs.
Chicago Cubs infield question marks heading into the playoffs
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