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The Chicago Cubs utter domination of the Cincinnati Reds continues with a 7-3 victory on Friday night at the Great American Ballpark. They’ve now outscored them by 70 runs this season with two games to play.
The Chicago Cubs are continuing to tune-up for the playoffs. Sitting starters occasionally and giving young guys a chance to start. But that hasn’t slowed down their mastery of the Reds pitching. Ben Zobrist homered twice in support of Jake Buchanan who earned his first win with the Cubs. Joe Maddon got the five innings out of him he needed then turned it over to the bullpen.
This was win No. 102 for this Cubs team and they have now outscored the Reds 125-55 this season. On Saturday, Jon Lester will go for win number 20, so Maddon will send out his “A” team for the game. It would be the second straight year the Cubs had a 20-game winner after Jake Arrieta‘s Cy Young performance last year.
Arrieta has struggled in recent weeks–if it’s possible to call 18 wins a “struggle”. The thought has been that Arrieta would follow Lester and Kyle Hendricks in the postseason rotation, opening up on the road. But John Lackey is the one who’s been trending upward. And he’s has a knack for winning big games in the playoffs. Should Maddon go with Lackey over Arrieta?
The Wild Card chase in the National League is coming a little bit more into focus. The Cardinals are hanging on by the skin of their teeth, while the Mets and Giants look to clinch home field for the one-game playoff. The Cubs will play whoever it is they need to, but most fans won’t mind if it’s not the Cardinals.
These and other stories you might have missed:
‘Cubs win 102nd game behind Zobrist’s two HR’s’ – Cubbies Crib
‘NLDS: Should it be Lackey over Arrieta?’ – Cubbies Crib
‘Mets guarantee no less than Wild Card tie’ – MLB
‘Holliday has storybook ending in St. Louis’ – ESPN
‘Hoyer, McLeod extends through 2021‘ – Cubbies Crib
#Cubs on Twitter
No guarantees, but Ben Zobrist believes #Cubs can live up to "super-team" hype: https://t.co/PlUWEWzWZf
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) October 1, 2016
Lester eyeing win No. 20 as #Cubs face Reds https://t.co/IVOnsrVW25 via @mlb
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) October 1, 2016
.@JakeBuck33 picked up his first #Cubs win with five shutout innings last night! https://t.co/8Tqwwc060U #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/PwzRbiPuz9
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 1, 2016
Be sure to follow us @CubbiesCrib on Twitter, and give us a like on our Facebook page as well! We’ll have more Cubs news as usual throughout the day, including a look at ‘The tale of two amazing seasons” for the Cubs.