Cubs still planning on D.C. makeup game depsite hurricane

Until further notice, the Chicago Cubs will pack their bags and head to Washington after Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

Despite Hurricane Florence being forecast to hit the East Coast in the coming days, the Cubs and the Washington Nationals are scheduled to go ahead with their makeup of Sunday's rainout at Nationals Park, Thursday at 3 p.m. CDT. From there, they will come right back home for a 1:20 p.m. start Friday, unless they can get Major League Baseball to move the game to later in the afternoon.

"There's nothing new," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon on Tuesday. "I've been following hurricanetracker.com. For me, we're playing. That's where I'm at. We're playing. Probably the most scary thing about it might be the plane ride itself. When you get sent into bad weather, it's never fun from that perspective."

The Cubs aren't happy about playing Thursday, especially since they haven't had a day away from a ballpark since Aug. 20.

"With respect to the league, I just play first base for the Cubs," Anthony Rizzo said.

Veteran infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist said there are no excuses being made.

"Everybody has had to deal with bad weather across the league over the course of the seasons, scheduling difficulties," he said. "It's a tough time of the year to have to play or go to the field as many games as we've had to at this part of the year."

Expecting to pitch:

Pitcher Jon Lester, who left Monday night's start after 5⅔ innings with low-back tightness, said he expects to make his next scheduled start.

He did so Tuesday with a sense of humor.

"I did wake up," he said. "I didn't feel great, but I got up out of the bed. I made it to my son's dentist appointment. He had to get two cavities filled. Bad parenting.

"We've got really good trainers. I'll be fine. I'll be ready to go. I don't imagine missing any time."

Sticking with Edwards:

Reliever Carl Edwards Jr. has a 5.40 ERA and 5 walks in 1⅔ innings in September. His wild pitch allowed the winning run to score Monday as the Brewers beat the Cubs 3-2. Edwards said he is fine.

"I didn't lose confidence," he said. "Health-wise, I feel good. I feel good about everything. There's a time to go through stuff, and right now, I'm going through something. You never know. I could go out there today and strike out three in a row, and that might start something.

"It's funny; not funny that it's happening. It's like if you all are writing and all of a sudden you wanted to say something and you just forgot what you wanted to write about. And you're looking around like, 'I knew I had something on my mind, but I just forgot.' "

Joe Maddon said he cannot imagine going into October without Edwards.

Wait 'til next year:

Left-handed pitcher Drew Smyly appears to have come to terms with not pitching this season.

The Cubs have shut Smyly down as he continues his rehab from Tommy John surgery in June 2017. Smyly signed a two-year deal with the Cubs last off-season with a realistic target of 2019 for being able to pitch.

"I knew all along it would have been a weird season for me; I basically wouldn't play until the very end," he said. "I was hopeful that I could make it back by August or September.

"I maybe should have if the circumstances were different, but the team's in a really tight race right now. I don't know if the risk vs. reward would have been there.

"I get it. It makes sense. It's disappointing that I've got to go through another year without playing. But it will make next year that much sweeter, I guess."