Maddon going one game at a time

The Cubs will be in the playoffs, but they haven't decided what to do about a postseason roster.

First, they'll have to win the one-game wild-card playoff. Only then can they begin preparing for the best-of-five division series.

"There's a difference," manager Joe Maddon said Sunday. "We're talking about one game right now. So that's a different gig than a five-game series or a seven-game series. With the one game, you have your starting pitcher. You need somebody to have length within that group if something would happen to the starter - injury, line drive, gets hit, gets beaten up early in the game - you have to have somebody with length there, possibly.

"The better part of your bullpen has to be a part of it, obviously. With the one game, you look at your platoon situation, the potentials to pinch hit because you'll know pretty much what they're going to do, player wide and try to build it around that. If you have a group that you don't really pinch hit for a lot, you're looking at speed and maybe improving your defense."

Day of rest?

First baseman Anthony Rizzo has played in 154 of 155 games this season. Joe Maddon has given almost all of his players rest from time to time, but Rizzo carries on.

"The only guy would be Riz, and maybe KB," Maddon said, referring to Kris Bryant as possible players who might get a day off in the final week of the regular season. "But you don't want to take them out of their rhythm, either. Everybody else has been rested. Everybody else has played on and off for a while. So there's nobody out there that's really fatigued."

The Cubs finish the regular season next Sunday in Milwaukee. They'll play in the wild-card game Wednesday, Oct. 7.

"He's going to get Monday-Tuesday," Maddon said of Rizzo. "Before you get to the game, our little Super Bowl that we have going on, before you get to that game, he's going to have plenty of rest. Again, I don't want to take them out of their rhythm, of sorts. Maybe get him out of the game sooner as we get closer to the end, but I'll talk to him about it."

Rotation roulette:

The Cubs also will start taking a look at their rotation situation more closely this week. No. 2 starter Jason Hammel went only 4-plus innings Saturday, and the Cubs have had problems getting consistency behind Nos. 1 and 2 starters, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester.

Hammel sailed through his first 4 innings pitched Saturday before the Pirates chased him with 5 straight hits in the fifth. Maddon has called the third-starter's spot "fluid."

"He pitched so well," Joe Maddon said. "All of a sudden, everything kind of hit the fan there really quickly, 5 hits in a row. So you can see how good he can be, too. We haven't even had that discussion. It is absolutely fluid. You know you like Jake and Jon 1-2, always.

"A lot of times during the season, Jason nailed it down. Kyle (Hendricks) been really good this year also. Danny (Haren) is going to pitch again in a couple of days. We've had some really good work out of our bullpen guys in multiple innings. These are the kinds of things we have to think about this coming week. I wanted to get through this weekend and get a better understanding of where we're at."