Chicago Cubs: Time to step up while Javier Baez is out

The Chicago Cubs have to try to find that spark again to end the year without one of their best and most energetic players, Javier Baez.

The Chicago Cubs got awful news on Saturday afternoon when it was reported that superstar Javier Baez had a hairline fracture in his thumb. The injury came from Baez sliding into second base against the Milwaukee Brewers one weekend ago. Baez has not played since that injury to his thumb. Even in the small sample size that it has been, it’s no surprise that Cubs miss their All-Star shortstop.

The Cubs are now 4 1/2 games out of the division and 1 1/2 games up in the second wildcard going into the series in San Diego. This will be a tough task to come back and try and take the division back from the arch-rival the St. Louis Cardinals. The silver lining is that the Chicago Cubs and Cards match up to seven of the last ten games. With four games at Wrigley Field and three at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

If the Cubs hope to be playing October baseball for the fifth straight year, it will take some players to play big roles over the next three weeks.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs fans are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel
• Justin Steele has evolved into a frontline starter for the Cubs
• The future of first base is murky right now for the Cubs
• Legendary Pat Foley will finally call a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
• MLB Pipeline ranks Pete Crow-Armstrong as Cubs top prospect

First on that list has to be Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo has been the unofficial captain of the team since this core group of players has been together. He has been one of those guys that Cubs fans can lean on to produce on the field.

This year Rizzo has seemed like he is super hot or super cold and goes through times where it seems like he lost his power. Rizzo has been pretty good overall this season batting .286 with 25 home runs and 86 RBIs. Those numbers will hopefully climb over the next few weeks if the Cubs want to be playing in the postseason.

Nicholas Castellanos has been on absolute fire since joining the Cubs at the trade deadline. Batting .338 with 13 home runs and 25 RBIs. The Chicago Cubs and Cubs fans everywhere can only hope to keep getting that kind of production out of a guy they got at the trade deadline. He has been a spark plug it’s seemed like providing certain energy to this team. This will be especially helpful with Baez out for the time being.

Kris Bryant, the former NL MVP is a guy that most people would think about needing to step up in a time like this. I see it differently, Bryant has been dealing with a bum knee since late June, and it has shown. Bryant has struggled at the plate especially recently.

Since he left the game against San Fransisco in late July Bryant is batting .226/.307/.372 with a 79 wRC+ and striking out at a 29.4% rate. That’s not the Kris Bryant that we all know, so it might be helpful for Bryant to go to the 10 Day IL. If he is still in the lineup though I’m not going to expect the huge numbers from him because it’s pretty clear that the knee is bothering him.

Jason Heyward was on pace for by far his best season as a Cub. For the majority of this season, he looked like the guy we gave $184 Million to. After being forced into the leadoff role, Heyward struggled. He recently ended a 0-32 streak at the plate.  Before the game in Milwaukee on Sunday Heyward was batting .094 in his last 15 games. If we can get the Jason Heyward from the begging of the year would be a massive boost to the offense that needs all hands on deck for the stretch run.

Lastly, it’s not a player that has to step up; it’s the manager, Joe Maddon. There are 20 games left starting with the four in San Diego. Maddon needs to have the best players play the rest of the way if they are able. It’s not time to do anything cute anymore, it’s time to put the best players on the field, and if they can’t get it done, at least you went down swinging.