Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! And on verge of winning Pool to Advance

Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled, singled and hit a 2-run homer in a 6 inning rain shortened game to lead the Cubs to a 7-1 win to aviod elimination and movethem from a -5 to a +1 in the crucial run differential tie-breaker. The other speedster Nico Hoerner had two doubles to give the Cubs 7 extra base hits in just six innings. The key for the Cubs was that they had two new pitchers to pitch in the 3rd and 4th games of pool play with good PB 2-7 cards. Kevin Gausman pitched 5 innings allowing only 1 run in five innings in the 7-1 rain shorted first game against a below average Andre Pallante PB 2-6 . Then the Jordan Wicks new PB 2-7 card gave them a big edge over the Royals, the only team with really bad PB 2-5 cards for their final two games starting with Seth Lugo - producing a 5-0 win in the second game that propelled the Cubs not only to a final 2-2 record to stay alive by to a +6 in run differential for the 4-game pool.

 

PB-	Pitcher	Opp	Score	Allow	Result	Proj ERA
2-7	Kevin Gausman	KCR	7	1	w	3.65
2'-7	Edward Cabrera	KCR	2	5	l	3.96
2'-7	Justin Steele	StL	3	5	L	3.63
2'-7	Jordan Wicks	StL	5	0	w	3.93
	Chicago Cubs totals		17	11	2-2, +6	Needs StL win by +1 to +14
2'-8	Cole Ragans	Chc	5	2	w	3.31
2'-5	Seth Lugo	Chc	0	5	L	4.5
2'-7	Kris Bubic	StL	8	4	w	3.91
2'-5	Noah Cameron	StL				4.26
	KC Royals totals		13	11	2-1, +2	Must win
2'-6	Matthew Liberatore	KCR				4.35
4'-7	Michael McGreevy	Chc	5	3	W	4.05
2'-6	Dustin May	KCR	4	8	l	4.22
2'-6	Andre Pallante	Chc	1	7	l	4.33
	St. Louis totals		10	18	1-2, -8	must W by +15

In that game, it was just one big inning for the Cubs, with the last five batters in the lineup all reaching as they took a 4-0 lead. Ian Happ doubled to start the inning, and Tyler Austin singled him home. Nico Hoerner doubled Austin home to make it 2-0 and took third on an error by the left fielder. Carson Kelly then walked, Dansby Swanson singled the speedy Hoerner home to make it 3-0, and with one out, Suzuki’s sac fly made it 4-0.

In the 8th, Bregman doubled to lead off the inning and Austin singled him home.

The only run scored against the Cubs in the two games came from the first two hitters of the first game, when Witt singled and stole second and Pasquantino singled him home to make it 1-0 Royals. That really put the pressure on the Cubs, but it was the last run they would allow in the two games.

With the Royals throwing another weak PB 2-5 pitcher in the finale against St. Louis, the Cubs can only watch and hope. If the Royals pull another upset, they are the surprise champs and advance with a 3-1 record.

However, if St. Louis wins, all three teams finish 2-2 and the Cubs advance unless the Cardinals win by at least 15 runs to beat the Cubs in run differential.

 

Pos	CHC	SP	OPS
CF	Pete Crow-Armstrong	AA	0.833
RF	Seiya Suzuki	C	0.789
3b	Alex Bregman	D	0.784
1b	Michael Busch	D	0.76
LF	Ian Happ	C	0.758
DH	Tyler Austin	D	0.744
2b	Nico Hoerner	A	0.731
C	Carson Kelly	D	0.71
SS	Dansby Swanson	B	0.707
Pos	KCR	SP	OPS
SS	Bobby Witt Jr	AA	0.870
1b	Vinnie Pasquantino	D	0.818
RF	Jac Caglianone	D	0.774
3b	Maikel Garcia	A	0.757
C	Salvador Perez	E	0.757
LF	Isaac Collins	A	0.733
DH	Starling Marte	B	0.732
2b	Michael Massey	D	0.701
CF	Kyle Isbel	B	0.687
Pos	STL	SP	OPS
2b	JJ Wetherholt	B	0.735
1b	Alec Burleson	C	0.788
C	Iván Herrera	C	0.763
DH	Lars Nootbaar	C	0.755
SS	Masyn Winn	B	0.725
LF	José Fermín	A	0.717
3b	Nolan Gorman	D	0.713
RF	Jordan Walker	B	0.71
CF	Nathan Church	C	0.692
2B	César Prieto	D	0.656