The Cubs completed a three game sweep of the Reds Thursday afternoon, extending their current winning streak to five games. In the process, they kept hope alive for the chance to tie the Pirates and host the Wild Card Playoff. Possibly not the greatest chance.
The Cubs would need to sweep the Brewers in Milwaukee. That isn't an unreasonable task, as the Brewers are pretty awful these days, maybe not as bad as the Reds, but bad enough. The other side of the coin is the Reds would have to take two of three in Pittsburgh. It could happen, one supposes, though this is the less likely part of the scenario. Stranger things have happened at season's end. Granted the Reds have lost like twelve straight, or something like that, but, of course, optimistically, they are due to win one.
The Reds series turned out to be the Austin Jackson show, at least the final two games. Jackson is a pretty good player who has not perhaps lived up to his full potential or at least the hype that was made of it. He seems to be on quite a streak lately after a slow adjustment to the NL in September. He is a solid outfielder and must have punched his ticket for a slot on the post-season roster with his recent performance.
Jackson is also an interesting possibility for next year's roster. He is a free agent, but he is bound to be cheaper than Fowler for center field and also can probably be signed for a shorter term than Fowler, who, after a strong second half, will likely draw interest at a higher price and over a longer haul, maybe four years. You wonder if the Cubs are likely to commit to that given the strength of their farm system and the versatility of their current roster.
On another note, Hammel notched a win on Thursday, but he wasn't sharp, so there are still question marks with him. Haren, on the other hand, looked very good, and Hendricks was especially impressive against a very good Royals team.
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