The Chicago Cubs led the Atlanta Braves 3-0 on Tuesday, but in a story Cubs fans know all too well, they blew it.
A two-run home run by Ronald Acuña Jr. in the sixth inning off Kevin Gausman and a two-run home run by Ozzie Albies off Jacob Webb in the seventh inning put the Braves ahead. The Cubs failed to score after the fourth inning, and a two-run home run by Drake Baldwin in the ninth inning sealed their fate and the National League Central.
The Cubs' bullpen and pitching woes have cost them so many games this year, and they are running out of time to get things right.
"We got to put together 27 outs,” Counsell said, per The Athletic's Patrick Mooney. “We got to score runs. I’m going to tell you that again: We got to score more runs. But, yeah, we got to get guys pitching well. And we got to have guys that we can count on. Multiple guys that we can count on. We’re not going to survive if we don’t have multiple guys we can count on.”
The Cubs have one of the best offenses in baseball, but they cannot be asked to outslug their opponent every night. The pitching has to be better, and if the Cubs want to make a deep run, some guys are going to have to step up. They could get Justin Steele back soon, and Edward Cabrera pitched in his first game since mid-August on Tuesday.
However, the reality is that the pitching staff is one of the weakest in the National League postseason picture. Runs are hard to come by in October, so unless the entire pitching staff takes a massive step up in the next 10 days, the Cubs are going to have problems in the postseason.
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