Otto: Time for Chicago Cubs to line up their pitching
The regular season is far from over for the Cubs, and there is not one player in that clubhouse taking anything for granted regarding a possible postseason. However, for teams well-positioned in the standings, like the Cubs, September becomes a critical month to line your arms up.
Bullpen:
Hector Rondon will be back soon, and it looks like he will have enough time in September to get acclimated to that eighth-inning role he moved to when the Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman.
Rondon threw a simulated game Saturday, and the timing of when he comes off the disabled list will depend on how well his arm bounces back over the next couple of days.
Assuming Rondon comes back healthy and as effective as he has been the last couple of years as the Cub's closer, that has the potential to shorten the game to seven innings. For the great closers I have sat in bullpens with, there is that one common thread: They like to finish what they start.
If they start the ninth inning and load the bases with nobody out, they have supreme confidence they will get out of it.
Rondon needs to take his closer mentality to his new inning, the eighth. If that occurs, manager Joe Maddon can save his 100-plus-mph throwing Chapman for the ninth only. With all that adrenaline pumping, it's sometimes more challenging for a closer to get out of an eighth-inning jam, sit in the dugout between innings and then go out there and do it again in the ninth.
Pedro Strop apparently has taken a step backward in his knee rehab, so he will have a shorter window in September to get back to his seventh-inning role.
The Cubs have some options, though, of shortening the game even further with or without Strop. I like how Maddon has thrown Carl Edwards Jr. into the fire a couple of times, including a save situation the other night where Edwards got his first career save.
Starting pitching:
John Lackey's return to the rotation is key. Playoff experience is so valuable come October, and a healthy, effective Lackey could be a big plus for the Cubs. Lackey has been to the World Series with the Angels and the Red Sox, has started 20 postseason games. Most important, he's gritty in big games.
September, though, does bring some difficult decisions. With off-days sprinkled in during the playoffs, there is only a need for four starters, while some teams only go with three.
Filling those No. 3 and No. 4 slots among Kyle Hendricks, Jason Hammel and Lackey depends largely on whom the Cubs play in the first round. It also might come down to who is "dealing" come October.
In lining up his rotation, Maddon will be able to cut back on the number of pitches thrown with starters, and even give them an extra fifth day of rest, if necessary.
That was a luxury Madon didn't have last year, as the Cubs were in the fight all the way to the end of the regular season. Jake Arrieta went deep into games last September, pitched in the one-game playoff against Pittsburgh, and just wasn't as crisp with his pitches against St. Louis and New York after that heavy workload.
Jon Lester pitched his tail off Friday against the Giants in a complete-game gem. He attacked hitters with all his pitches and got stronger as the game went on.
Very similar to what this pitching staff will bring as Maddon lines them all up.
• Dave Otto, a standout athlete at Elk Grove High School, pitched from 1987-1994 for four MLB teams, including the Cubs. A former baseball analyst for WGN Radio, FoxSportsNet and Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Otto also is a member of the University of Missouri Hall of Fame.