Cubs Advance

OK, these guys are really good, that is all you can say, and, unlike any Cubs team anyone alive can even imagine, they do not choke.  Hammel was shaky from the start, which one rather expected, lasting three innings before the early hook.  The Cubs used seven relief pitchers to finish the game, which was kind of weird, but also not that unusual for Maddon.  Both managers pulled out all the stops, Maddon with an obvious aim of eliminating the Cardinals at home, and Matheny with a view to extending the series against the inconsistent Hammel even though he pretty much had no one to put up against Lester should the series reach a deciding game.

Matheny sent out his ace John Lackey on short rest in what looked like an advantageous matchup, but after being staked to a 2-0 lead before his team even made an out, he completely lost his composure in the second inning, giving up a hit to Schwarber after walking Castro.  He struck out Montero, but then served up a lollipop to the Cubs pitcher Hammel that resulted in a single.  Lackey was so upset that he promptly threw a gopher ball to Javier Baez on the next pitch.

The game swayed back and forth from there on out with each side emptying their benches and bullpens.  Each time the Cards pulled even, they were unable to shut the Cubs down and that was the story.  The Cubs got a terrific defensive throw from Jorge Soler to nip the potential go-ahead run at home to end the sixth inning, after which the Cardinals could not mount a significant threat against the meat of the Cubs bullpen.  Rizzo decided the game with a home run in the bottom of the sixth, and Schwarber launched a ball over the right field scoreboard in the following inning to seal the deal.

By some quirk of the scoring rules, Trevor Cahill, the least effective of the Cubs relievers, wound up as the winning pitcher.

On to wherever, New York or Los Angeles depending on the outcome of the deciding game between the two Thursday night.  Both the remaining teams won five or seven games fewer than the Cubs.  I kind of think Major League Baseball will need to tweak the post-season rules a little as a minimum.  There really is no reason that teams that would have finished well behind the second wild card team, in this case, should have home-field advantage at this point.  But it is what it is.