Down to the Wire in the National League

As we head down the final 6 games of the season, here is what the Cubs, and their competitors for playoff positioning are facing.

The NL is down to 7 teams competing for 6 spots, with the Diamondbacks all but eliminated. The division races are locked up, but the Dodgers are still within two games of the Brewers for the overall top seed — although the Brewers hold the tiebreaker, essentially making it a 3 game lead. The Braves are locked into the 3 seed, and will host a Wild Card series.

One tricky thing that all of these teams except the Diamondbacks will have to navigate is that once they clinch a playoff spot, how much are they going to do to try to improve their seed. For instance, to have a pitcher ready for game 1 of the Wild Card on the 29th, they cant start them in the last series – unless they want to pitch them on short rest.

Current Wild Card Standings

Team	W	L	GB	Magic #	Elim #
Cubs	87	69	–	1	–
Padres	87	69	–	2	–
Phillies	86	70	1	3	–
Diamondbacks	82	74	5	–	3

Team	Proj W	Proj L	ROS W%	Strength of Sched	Make Playoffs
Cubs	90.3	71.7	.545	.504	100.0%
Padres	89.7	72.3	.450	.566	96.7%
Phillies	88.9	73.1	.491	.542	97.3%
Diamondbacks	85.4	76.6	.567	.466	5.9%

Tiebreakers:
Cubs over Padres
Cubs over Phillies
Cubs over Diamondbacks
Phillies over Padres
Diamondbacks over Phillies
Padres / Diamondbacks TBD (5-5 with 3 games left)

Cubs schedule

Vs Marlins (3)
Opponent something to play for: No
Possible pitching matchups:
9/22 – Imanaga vs Junk
9/23 – Gausman vs Gusto
9/24 – TBD (Holmes) vs Phillips
Notes: The Cubs miss Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez again. If the Cubs still plan to open the Wild Card with Holmes, he would need to have his last start on Thursday.

At Red Sox (3)
Opponent something to play for: No (locked into 5th spot in AL)
Possible pitching matchups:
9/25 – TBD (Boyd) vs TBD (Bello)
9/26 – TBD (Peterson) vs TBD (Sandoval)
9/27 – TBD vs TBD
Notes: With nothing to play for, the Red Sox will not pitch Tolle, Gray or Suarez in this series, unless for just a couple of innings.

Padres Schedule

At Dodgers (3)
Opponent something to play for: Yes (1st seed in NL)
Possible Pitching Matchups:
9/22 -King vs TBD (Yamamoto)
9/23 -Ray vs TBD (Snell)
9/24 -Pivetta vs TBD (Wroblinski)
Notes: the Dodgers skipped Yamomoto’s normal spot today, so he may go on Tuesday. They also have Snell, Wroblinksi and Glasnow as possible starters, especially if they are still in contention for the first overall seed.

Vs Diamondbacks (3)
Opponent something to play for: Maybe
Possible Pitching Matchups
9/25 – TBD (Mize) vs TBD (Pfaadt)
9/26 – TBD (Buehler) vs TBD (Burnes)
9/27 – TBD vs TBD
Notes: The Padres already have the back end of their rotation set for this series, so they should not have to juggle too much.

Phillies Schedule

Vs Brewers (3)
Opponent something to play for: Yes (1st seed in NL)
Possible Pitching Matchups:
9/22 – Wheeler vs May
9/23 – Nola vs Henderson
9/24 – TBD vs TBD
Notes: the Phillies miss Misiorowski and Gasser. Kyle Harrison should be ready, but he’s been awful in several consecutive starts. With Luzardo injured, the third pitcher for the Phillies is up in the air.

At Rays
Opponent something to play for: No
Possible Pitching Matchups
9/25 – TBD (Sanchez) vs TBD
9/26 – TBD vs TBD
9/27 – TBD vs TBD
Notes: if the Phillies need game 2 and/or 3 of this series, they might have to use Wheeler, but I’m sure they do not want to. If Sanchez is needed for the first game of this series, he would probably go in game 2 of the Wild Card. The Rays should have the AL East wrapped up, so they will probably pitch players from the back end of their rotation.

Diamondbacks Schedule

At Rockies (3)
Opponent something to play for: Not even close
Possible Pitching Matchups:
9/22 -Soroka vs Freeland
9/23 – Kelly vs Adams
9/24 – Rodriguez vs TBD
Notes: A series against the Rockies is one of the only reasons for hope for the Diamondbacks. If they can sweep, and have the Phillies lose 2 of 3 to the Brewers, they might have a fighting chance.

At Padres (3)
Opponent something to play for: Yes
Possible Pitching Matchups:
9/25 – TBD (Pfaadt) vs TBD (Mize)
9/26 – TBD (Burnes) vs TBD (Buehler)
9/27 – TBD vs TBD
Notes: Burnes probably won’t pitch if the Diamondbacks are eliminated.