Chicago Cubs: Pedro Strop triumphantly returns in the Wild Card loss

After missing more than three weeks, Chicago Cubs reliever Pedro Strop made his long-awaited return in Tuesday’s Wild Card game loss to Colorado.

Since his injury, there has been mostly optimism from both Pedro Strop and the Chicago Cubs but no timetable was ever really mentioned. They were just hopeful he’d be available for the postseason.

Early Tuesday, the Cubs announced their 25-man roster for the Wild Card game against the Colorado Rockies. Given what fans witnessed late in Monday’s tiebreaker loss to Milwaukee, seeing Strop penciled in gave us all at least a bit more hope.

And he did not disappoint. Strop entered in a 1-1 tie in the ninth, looking to give the team a chance for a walk-off win. He quickly dispatched Nolan Arenado and, after allowing a single to Trevor Story, induced a fielder’s choice groundout for the second out. He ended the inning by striking out Ian Desmond looking.

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Perhaps even more interesting was not only seeing Cole Hamels and Kyle Hendricks on the roster, but seeing both take the mound. Remember, had the Cubs won Tuesday, both men would have been big parts of the rotation heading into the NLDS. Despite Hendricks allowing the game-winning run in the 13th, the duo combined for 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball out of the pen.

Let the second-guessing begin

Following the loss, there will be no shortage of people criticizing Joe Maddon‘s in-game decisions. Was he right to go with the guys he did in relief of Jon Lester? Once again, the big left-hander proved how valuable he is in games like this. He struck out nine, allowing just one run over six innings of ball. Entering Tuesday’s start, he carried a 2.55 ERA and 1.027 WHIP in 148 postseason frames.

As for Strop, we’d all hoped he’d be ready to close out the game in a big moment. But, when you consider he hadn’t thrown in a game since Sept. 13, it seemed unlikely.

Tapping him in a critical ninth inning, hot on the heels of the game-tying tally in the bottom of the eighth, Maddon (and Strop) had absolutely no room for error in his return to the mound. Still, he came in and shut down Colorado’s big bats – leaving us all to wonder what this season may had been if he didn’t miss the last three weeks of the campaign.

The Rockies came in off a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the same type of atmosphere the Cubs faced Monday. Despite playing three games in three days across three separate time zones, Bud Black‘s club did just enough to advance to the National League Division Series.

Strop could have been the difference for this Cubs bullpen if they pulled out a victory in front of the home faithful. Instead, we’re already eyeing when pitchers and catchers report to Sloan Park in the spring, again hopeful that next year proves to be the year.