Wide World of Women

On November 2, 2016, a 108-year-old demon was finally exorcised, as the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series. Here it is, almost a year later, and the Cubs are looking to repeat. So the Cubs ended a curse; meanwhile, the Washington Nationals have their own stigma. Of the 30 teams, the Expos/Nationals (who are in their 49th season) are one of only two teams who have never won a pennant (the Seattle Mariners are the other). They have only been in the NLCS once (1981), and recent seasons have seen the Nats win the NL East nearly every year, only to be bounced out in the NLDS. So will the Nats' luck finally change? Honestly, history says no, but this will be a close series.

Prediction: Cubs in five

#1

Pending on the status of Cy Young candidate Max Scherzer for the Nationals and soon-to-be free agent Jake Arrieta from the World Champion Cubs, this series boils down to two things:

How will the Cubs hitters fare against the Nationals pitching of Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez?

How will the Nationals hitters (outside of Cubs killer Daniel Murphy) fare against the talented and diverse pitching rotation of Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and if Jon Lackey has to be inserted as the #4 starter if Arrieta's hamstring is still bothering him?

Washington shore up their middle relief, but with them clinching the Eastern division way too early in September--they haven't had too many meaningful games in the last three weeks.

The Chicago Cubs on the other hand, they all believe they are "battle tested." Besides the historic 2016 postseason run, they also came back to win three dramatic games in Milwaukee and the Central Division clincher in St. Louis.

Joe Maddon can push the buttons with the best of them. He is a modern day master of resting key guys, inserting key roles for people that sit in the dugout and managing a bullpen by committee anchored in the end by All-Star Wade Davis. With Koshi Uehera injured, it will be interesting to see which Justin (Grimm or Wilson) will shoulder a good part of the load in case if Mike Montgomery is asked to come in.

As for Dusty Baker, as all true blue Cubs fans know all too well--there will be one questionable move that will for sure shake the core up and down the Mid-Atlantic region. Dusty has had a history of times when he came close to winning a World Series but in the end, the 2002 Giants blew a 5-0 lead in a game they thoroughly controlled against the Angels and the following year leaving in Mark Prior with a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning of Game Six. The bullpen implodes, and the Marlins go on to win their second World Series in improbable fashion.

In the end, the Cubs playoff experience will be a huge benefit the longer this series goes. If the Cubs manage to at least gain a split in Washington, just let the Wrigleyville crowd take over in Game 3 and 4. In my mind, hopefully it be will Game Over, Series Over--and out West they would head either to Arizona or Los Angeles.

Cubs 3, Nationals 0

Kyle Hendricks blanks Nats; Cubs have won four straight postseason games dating back to last year's World Series.

The sixth inning error on Hector Rondon cost the Nationals a chance, even though they had a runner on second in the second inning.

And the Bryzzo combination of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo knocked in all 3 runs--two in the sixth and a big insurance run in the eighth. Carl Edwards, Jr. pitched a good 8th and Wade Davis finished things by getting the save in the ninth.

No question about it, Kyle Hendricks was masterful. He managed to paint the corners and kept the vaunted Washington hitters in the park. As for Stephen Strasburg, he kept firing fastball after fastball and the Cubs hitters took full advantage the second time around.

For Game 2 on Saturday, Gio Gonzalez will start in place of Max Scherzer. It appears Scherzer is slated for Game 3 on Monday. Jon Lester will start for the Cubs, who have stolen away the precious home field advantage--and we all know what that will mean come Monday at Wrigley Field.

Overall, a nice win for the defending champions. Washington's lack of playoff experience is going to catch up with them.

Nats are screwed; they're going to continue that Washington DC tradition of disappearing in the playoffs.

We know how great Jon Lester has been through the years, especially when he was the number 1 starter in several prior series going back the last 2 seasons.

All I can say is, Chicago just needs to execute a similar script like they did on Friday night--get good pitches to hit, stay patient at the plate, and don't rush things on defense.

So far, so good.

Nationals 6, Cubs 3

Nats even series thanks to a clutch five-run eighth inning.

Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman may have saved Washington's season.

But the next two are at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.
Latest Chicago forecast I heard for both Monday and Tuesday--
winds will be blowing in off Lake Michigan. This means it will be pitcher's nights and it will be very difficult to hit home runs.

Btw, it was a five run eighth inning that did in the Cubs bullpen.

Jon Lester did his job. If the Cubs starters do that every night, they won't need a Sandy Koufax perfect game or a Nolan Ryan/Randy Johnson 20K performance to win the World Series again.

Pedro Strop did his job last night, and believe you me he has been getting stick from Cubs fans about his performance this year.

The Cubs' bullpen in the eighth...DID. NOT. DO. THEIR. JOBS.

Cubs 2, Nationals 1

Despite four errors (two in one play by Kyle Schwarber, which resulted in WSH's only run), the Cubs win with a late RBI in the eighth.

Kyle Schwarber making two errors that allowed Washington's only run to score in the sixth was very uncharacteristic on his part.

According to a tweet from baseball historian Christopher Kamka:

"#Cubs: first team to have three consecutive starts of 5+ IP, 1 or 0 runs & 2 or fewer hits in the same postseason series."

At least, Carl Edwards, Jr. made up for his mistakes on Saturday night and Anthony Rizzo came through once again--dropping the perfect bloop single inbetween three defenders to plate Jon Jay with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Washington could have had two big innings, one with Jay sprinting towards right center to haul in a long drive and in the third inning, which had the Cubs committing two errors.

Taylor singled to lead off and moved up on a throwing error by Quintana while attempting to pick him off. Quintana then struck out Max Scherzer and got Trea Turner to pop out to Rizzo. Bryce Harper then reached on a fielding error by second baseman Ben Zobrist, who ended up fumbling the ball twice on the initial pickup and later on the exchange away from the glove hand. Anthony Rendon's long drive into right center was flagged down by a nice running catch from perennial Gold Glove right fielder Jason Heyward.

Again, Dusty Baker's bullpen moves come back to bite him. Taking out three pitchers in less than 2 innings is very unorthodox, especially in the playoffs.

Game 4 will have Wilmington, IL native Tanner Roark trying to keep the Nationals season alive. The Cubs will counter with 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arietta, which the team is hoping that this extra rest will help his right hamstring heal by the time first pitch at about 5:40 p.m. Eastern time on TBS.
Just in case if Arietta reaggravates the hamstring, Jon Lackey could spell him in long relief--just keep that in mind.

Game 4 has been postponed due to lots of rain in the Chicago area. It started about a half hour before the originally scheduled 4:38 p.m. Central time start, and it is not going to let up until sometime late Wednesday morning.

There was a small group of fans in different places around Wrigley Field, but the TBS cameras only showed home plate covered with the tarp. Eventually, the grounds crew did the right thing and covered the entire infield. The game was called about one hour later, after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred consulted with President Theo Epstein, GM Jed Hoyer, along with Joe Maddon on the Cubs side and with Washington GM Mike Rizzo and manager Dusty Baker.

Expect Stephen Strasburg to do the chucking for Washington (a term former longtime Chicago sports radio talk show host Dan McNeil was famous to say for years) instead of Tanner Roark.

The Cubs will still have Jake Arietta scheduled to toe the rubber, and hopefully his hamstring is continuing to heal. But Cubs Manager Joe Maddon mentioned earlier on Tuesday afternoon that he has both Mike Montgomery and John Lackey in the bullpen just in case.

Game 4 will start at 4:08 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, just a few hours before FS1 is scheduled to do Game 5 of the ALDS as the New York Yankees play again in Cleveland at 8 p.m. We will see how the forecast affects northeast Ohio tomorrow night.

Small correction from my earlier post:

Tanner Roark will still start for Washington, since Stephen Strasburg is "under the weather--according to manager Dusty Baker (first noticed on ESPN.com earlier on Tuesday night).

Jake Arietta is scheduled to start for the Cubs...first pitch Wednesday at very chilly Wrigley will be at 4:08 p.m. Eastern. Rain should clear out, partly cloudy skies expected with a temperature around 61--truly autumn like weather with a brisk northeast wind off the lake at around 10-15 MPH. Meaning, it will be a great day to pitch. Hitters will have to really mash the ball if it ends up either on Waveland (left field) or Sheffield Avenue (right field).

Another small update--
Stephen Strasburg in fact will start for the Nationals, this according to the Washington beat reporter on Twitter.

Washington Manager Dusty Baker was quoted as saying during this morning's press conference that he will treat Strasburg "just like a regular season start, unless he shows any signs of fatigue."

Does this mean Tanner Roark may come out of the bullpen, ala what the Cubs are planning if Jake Arietta's hamstring flares up again? As I said the other day, both Mike Montgomery and John Lackey are two extra options in the bullpen.

Nationals 5, Cubs 0

Strasburg is lights out and Wacky Wade gives up an eighth inning Grand Slam; forcing Game Five back in DC.

Michael Taylor's grand slam with 2 outs in the eighth off star closer Wade Davis barely and I mean barely cleared the basket area in right field.

But give all the credit to Stephen Strasburg. He was simply lights out for 7 innings, striking out 12 and only allowing 3 hits.

The hardest hit ball was struck by Anthony Russell, but it ended up being caught at the left field warning track. Any other day at Wrigley, the ball hawks would be tracking that ball like radar and the Cubs would have had the lead.

But it was Russell who booted a slowly hit ground ball (again, credit the wet grass for slowing that ball down) off his throwing wrist to give Washington their first run.

Again, all of the Nationals' key damage has occurred in the 8th inning in both of their wins. Jake Arietta simply ran up his pitch count, but it did not appear that his hamstring was hampering him by the time Joe Maddon took him out in favor of Jon Lester.

Lester, pitching on 3 days rest did very well again through 3 2/3. But it was Carl Edwards, Jr. who got into the initial mess before Taylor's shocking grand slam.

So, game 5--winner take all in Washington at 8:08 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.

The Cubs will have Game 1 starter Kyle Hendricks to start and Joe Maddon says that Jose Quintana will occupy the Jon Lester role if needed. Washington might counter either with Max Scherzer or Gio Gonzalez.

We will find out more tomorrow. For the Cubs, a blown opportunity...but Chicago just like Washington knows how to win the road. Can they keep their chances of repeating alive at least beyond tomorrow night? The winner will take a cross country flight west to Los Angeles for the start of the NLCS on Saturday.

Originally, Game 4 would have been played on Wednesday afternoon.

Here is what ABC7 Chicago meteorologist Cheryl Scott briefly explained on her Twitter page:

Cheryl Scott‏
Verified account @CherylScottWX

Apparently @Cubs @Nationals wanted a 1pm start but TBS said no. #badcall
1:05 PM - 10 Oct 2017

The rain did not really start until sometime after 3:30, so technically they could have gotten at least 7 innings in.

Washington has finally named their Game 5 starter.

According to Chelsea James, beat writer for The Washington Post, it will be Gio Gonzalez making the start.

Tanner Roark and possibly Max Scherzer could be available in the bullpen.

For Chicago, all hands on deck except for Jake Arietta and Jon Lester. Jose Quintana will fill the role as first man out of the bullpen if Kyle Hendricks struggles.

History is on the Cubs side. One thing I know for sure: Washington teams are known for choking, and they commit their biggest choke jobs at home.