October 3, 2015 Chicago Sun-Times Nobody Saw 95 Wins for Cubs
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October 3, 2015 Chicago Sun-Times Nobody saw 95 wins for Cubs this year -- except Anthony Rizzo By Gordon Wittenmyer Anthony Rizzo was right. Sort of. More than a month before spring training started, the Cubs’ first baseman made national sports headlines by vowing the Cubs would go from last to first in the division. He just got the division wrong. After Friday’s series-opening 6-1 victory over the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Cubs are third in the National League Central, but their 95-65 record would lead any of the five other divisions in baseball – and would have already clinched in three of them, even before Friday. A few weeks ago, Rizzo said he had intended to set a tone for the season with his bold statement, and looking back at the prediction/guarantee in recent days, he said, “I feel good about it. “I don’t ever regret anything I say. We gave it our all.” And they achieved far more than anyone on the outside – and most inside the clubhouse – believed possible in 2015. “I think everybody would have been a little surprised at that,” Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel said. “But it’s not to say it wasn’t in the cards. We’re good. And we know it.” “Personally, I thought next year,” sixth-year veteran Starlin Castro said. “I thought, `We’ll be all right this year and then next year we’ll be great.’ And you see how fast it is now. Now we can compete with whatever team.” In fact, their 43-18 second-half surge into their final two games of the regular season has them competing with their own history this weekend. Already the first third-place team in major-league history to reach even 94 wins, this group has a chance to match the 2008 team for most victories (97) and highest winning percentage (.599) since the club’s last trip to the World Series, 70 years ago. They’re playing so well they’re helping create a groundswell of support for changing the way baseball seeds the playoffs – since two among the Cardinals (100-60), Pirates (97-63) and Cubs are assured of being eliminated before the League Championship Series. “The Cardinals and Pirates are two unbelievable teams. And it’s really going to be a shame when only one of us advances,” Rizzo said. “But that’s the way it is. I think it’s awesome. “It’s a credit to all of us. It’s a credit to this division, how good this team is. Because we beat up on each other. It’s not easy.” If the Cubs win out in Milwaukee they could still catch the Pirates for home-field advantage in next week’s wild- card game, with help. A lot of help, actually. The woeful Reds – who have lost 13 straight games and started rookies on the mound for 62 straight – would have to win their final two against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, after blowing a 4-0 lead in an extra- inning loss to the Pirates Friday night. If the Cubs and Pirates tie, the Cubs host the Oct. 7 wild-card game because of their better head-to-head record. Either way, the winner of that game would head to St. Louis for the start of the best-of-five division series. Meanwhile, the Cubs’ already have more wins than all but two Cubs teams since 1945: – 2008, 97-65 (swept by the Dodgers in the division series). – 1984, 96-65 (Lost 3 games to 2 in NLCS to the Padres). Even before the Milwaukee series, no team in Cubs history had finished a season with as many wins as this one without finishing first since the 1909 Cubs won 104 and finished second to the Pirates. “It’s good,” Rizzo said. “We’ve come a long way. “We’ve still got a lot to do.” Even if they don’t win another 11 games after Sunday to accomplish what they say is their only goal this year, this 2015 season always was said to be just the start of something bigger and longer-term. “We’re going to say it’s a great year no matter what, but I don’t want people to settle for that. Neither does [manager] Joe [Maddon],” Rizzo said. “I don’t mean in this clubhouse. I’m saying outsiders. You just said the start of something. Well, let’s finish what we started this year. And if we do that, then we’ll do it again next year.” Maybe he even gets the division right next time around. -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs' Jake Arrieta puts 'icing on the cake' in Cy Young case with 22nd win By Gordon Wittenmyer MILWAUKEE – This is why the Cubs seem so certain they can beat the Pirates on Wednesday whether they play them in Pittsburgh or Chicago or Costa Rica – why they’re confident they can beat anyone, anywhere when Jake Arrieta pitches. Because for more than three months they basically have. When he added another six scoreless innings to a second half for the ages on Friday night in Milwaukee, Arrieta may have clinched a Cy Young Award, while reaching the threshold of the biggest start of his career. “That would be cool,” Arrieta (22-6) said of the possible Cy Young after beating the Brewers 6-1 in the opener of the final series of the season. “When the season’s over we’ll think about that a little bit more. But obviously Wednesday is the most important thing for everybody in here. And that’s where I’m going to keep my focus right now.” The Cubs’ sixth straight win keeps their slim hopes alive for catching the Pirates in the standings for home field in the Wednesday’s wild-card game. But when the Pirates came back to beat the Reds in extra innings Friday night, it meant the Cubs needed to win the final two, with the woeful Reds beating the Pirates the next two days for that to happen. Arrieta – who finished the season with 22 consecutive scoreless innings and the second-best ERA (1.77) in the majors – seems ready either way. “I’m definitely prepared,” he said. “I’m obviously confident. Everything’s where it needs to be.” As good as he was all season long, it’s how strong Arrieta finished during the biggest-workload season (229 innings in 33 starts) of his career that was most impressive. And he and his manager seem to believe he has another potential seven starts of strength left in his right arm. “I’ve not seen anything slide backward at all, whether it’s command, whether it’s velocity, whether it’s break on the breaking pitches,” manager Joe Maddon said. “The stuff’s the same as it was two months ago. It’s incredible.” Even historic. On this night, he allowed only two runners to reach – on a ground single leading off the game and a soft liner with two out in the fourth – to put his ERA just .09 behind the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke for best in the majors. But it’s what he’s done in 20 starts since a June 16 loss to Cleveland (when he was 6-5, 3.40) that has turned him into what some consider the best pitcher in the game right now. “I don’t even know what he was before that,” Maddon said. “But I definitely know what he was like after that.” In those 20 consecutive quality starts (a franchise record), he has gone 16-1 with a 0.86 ERA. Along the way he: –Threw a no-hitter against the NL West-champion Dodgers on Aug. 30; –Broke the major-league record for best post-break ERA in the 82-year All-Star era at 0.75 (in 15 starts); –And broke the 72-year-old major-league record for best ERA after July at 0.41 (less than half that of the former record of 0.83 set by Spud Chandler); “Unbelievable,” said All-Star teammate Anthony Rizzo, who’s not sure how he’d hit him. “It’s a good thing I don’t have to face him.” “If that did not clinch his award, I don’t know what would. Just dominating. That should put the icing on the cake right there,” said Maddon, who called Arrieta’s season the best he’s ever seen – and he managed David Price during a Cy Young season. “David was outstanding. But I’ve not seen this,” Maddon said. “I don’t think a lot of people have. “When it really counted, when we needed him to push us over the top – listen, with all due respect to the other guys, he has done something that has not been done. Man, it’s incredible to watch.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Right call for Cubs in wild card? Could be Schwarber -- or not By Gordon Wittenmyer MILWAUKEE – With three games left before making the final call on how to best attack the Pirates and Gerrit Cole in a win-or-go-home wild-card game, Cubs manager Joe Maddon still is testing possibilities – including starting Kyle Schwarber in right field Friday for the first time in his professional career. A precursor to Wednesday’s lineup in Pittsburgh? “I wanted to make sure that he got some work out there also,” Maddon said. “It’s something that you can see.” Or maybe not. Schwarber has had two brief appearances in right field during games in his professional career, once in Pittsburgh Sept.