Rested starters should give Cubs advantage in NLCS
The Cubs won't have home-field advantage in the National League championship series, but they figure to have one important advantage: setting their rotation.
By eliminating the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday in Game 4 of the division series, the Cubs did not have to come back with No. 2 starting pitcher Jon Lester for a Game 5.
Now, they are likely to start staff ace Jake Arrieta in Saturday's Game 1 of the NLCS in either New York or Los Angeles. Lester would be ready for Sunday's second game. The Mets and Dodgers will play Game 5 of their NLDS Thursday night.
Arrieta is 2-0 in the postseason, having tossed a complete game last week at Pittsburgh to beat the Pirates in the wild-card game. He proved human in Game 3 of the division series, going 5⅔ innings and giving up 5 hits and 4 runs.
During the regular season, Arrieta was 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA, inserting his name into consideration for the Cy Young Award.
He looked slightly off Monday, but he has logged 243⅔ innings this season. His previous career high in the big leagues was 156.2, set last year.
"Physically he was fine," said manager Joe Maddon. "The command was just not typical. That's what I was seeing. I didn't see the same finish on the pitches. Part of it was the fastball command wasn't there, so they're not going to chase the other stuff.
"You've got to be careful with all of that. I think more than anything was the emotional component of pitching and winning the wild-card game. I think that might have taken something out of him a little bit. Not that he can't regain it because I didn't think he was stressed physically (Monday). I just think he was off. I thought he was off mechanically, too."
Waiting on Russell:
Shortstop Addison Russell and the Cubs likely will know more Thursday about his status for the NLCS. Russell felt tightness in his left hamstring in Game 3 of the NLDS while running out a triple. He had to come out of the game, and he missed the Game 4 clincher.
If Russell can't play, the Cubs seem to feel comfortable with Javier Baez at short. Baez hit a 3-run homer in Game 4. The Cubs will hold a Thursday afternoon workout at Wrigley Field.
Invaluable experience:
Joe Maddon has talked repeatedly of how important winning the wild-card game has been because of the one-and-done nature of the game. Maddon says that experience is helping the Cubs as they move on in the playoffs.
"It's invaluable," he said. "It starts with getting into the playoffs like we did and winning 97 games. But having to battle through a wild-card game and getting experience is fabulous. That is probably the most invaluable part of what we've done to this point because you have to get into that one-and-done kind of a mentality.
"We know that we can do that now. We know how to approach it now. When we lined up on the line for the first game of this series, it was an incredibly different feeling emotionally than the wild-card game in Pittsburgh because you're going to either win this game or go home. At least you know coming into this series you have five games to try to get this thing done. It's a totally different mindset. It's like a Super Bowl game. You either win or you don't win."
Record setters:
Cubs batters hit 10 home runs in the NLDS. They had hit 7 in their previous four division series combined, covering 14 games.
Jorge Soler has drawn 6 walks in the postseason, a Cubs rookie franchise record and tied for the most by a Cubs player in a division series. Sammy Sosa had 6 walks in the 2003 NLDS against Atlanta.
Cubs pitchers struck out 15 in Tuesday's clincher, setting a postseason franchise record. The Cubs struck out 14 in game 1 of the 2003 NLDS. The pitching staff struck out 48 in the series against the Cardinals, topping the franchise record of 42, also in 2003.