October 3, 2015

Chicago Sun-Times Nobody saw 95 wins for Cubs this year -- except By Gordon Wittenmyer

Anthony Rizzo was right.

Sort of.

More than a month before started, the Cubs’ 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 Central, but their 95-65 record would lead any of the five other divisions in – 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 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 , 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- 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 [] 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.

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Chicago Sun-Times Cubs' puts 'icing on the cake' in 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 to a second half for the ages on Friday night in Milwaukee, Arrieta may have clinched a , 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 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 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’ 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 );

“Unbelievable,” said All-Star teammate Anthony Rizzo, who’s not sure how he’d 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 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.”

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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 in a win-or-go-home wild-card game, Cubs manager Joe Maddon still is testing possibilities – including starting 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. 15 and again Tuesday in Cincinnati.

For now Maddon said he’s just keeping options open.

“Just trying to keep everybody playing, everybody rested and also sharp at the same time,” said Maddon, who acknowledged right field at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park might be a more forgiving assignment than left, assuming he has Schwarber in the lineup that night.

“But you know what, he’s played the outfield well [in both spots]. He’s played well out there. He played well behind the plate. The whole point is just to maximize what we’re able to do at any one particular moment. And I don’t want to just throw guys into situations without giving them some kind of work in advance of the moment.”

So could we see him in right for the wild-card game?

“He could be, absolutely, yes,” Maddon said.

Or maybe not.

Schwarber has faced Cole twice, both in the last three weeks, going 0-for-3 in Pittsburgh the first game and 1-for-2 with a walk the second time.

Outfielder vs. Cole: 2-for-13 with two walks and was hit by a pitch. : 2-for-7. : 3-for-9 with two walks.

“At the end of the day I’ll have to sit down and put pen or pencil to paper,” said Maddon, who has just begin going over simulations and analyses provided by the “geek department.”

“It’s going to come down to, like, what’s more important that day – offense or defense, at least at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Where do I want to go with that? That’s part of my question to [the analysts]. You do work on where they may hit the ball against Jake [Arrieta]. That’s another thought to be considered.

“The big thing is to keep guys playing, keep guys well and try to make our beset guess for that particular day.”

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Chicago Sun-Times named Defensive Player of the month by ESPN By Rob Ogden

Addison Russell has struggled at the plate this season, but he’s been Mr. Consistency in the field, which is why he was named Defensive Player of the Month for September by ESPN.

The rookie has quietly made an impact on the team as he’s patrolled both sides of the infield and established himself as one of the top middle infielders in the game.

From ESPN:

Russell’s nine defensive runs saved ranked second in baseball, trailing only ’s 10. They were one more than defensive wizard and fellow Andrelton Simmons.

It hasn’t mattered where the Cubs put Russell this season, whether it be second base or shortstop. He’s performed remarkably well at both. Entering Thursday he ranked fourth in the majors in defensive runs saved for the season at both second base and shortstop.

According to Baseball Reference, Russell ranks fourth on the team in wins above replacement. With a WAR of 3.1, he ranks behind only Jake Arrieta (8.6), Anthony Rizzo (6.1) and Kris Bryant (5.6).

According to ESPN, Baseball Info Solutions’ defensive charting rates Russell as highly above average at fielding balls hit to the right of where the would traditionally play and highly above average at fielding balls to the left of where the shortstop would traditionally play.

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Chicago Sun-Times Jayson Stark lists pair of Cubs on 'End-of-Season' Awards By Demario Phipps-Smith

The Cubs have had a season for the history books.

There was no pressure on the team to be excellent this year; next season was supposed to be the Cubs would be contenders. But this season may be the season.

The Cubs have won 94 games going into Friday and are looking at a first-round, one-game elimination playoff against the .

A special team is comprised of special players, and ESPN’s Jayson Stark has honored the Cubs players having the most storied season in his End-of-Season Awards.

For Rookie of the Year, Stark has tabbed Kris Bryant of the North Siders as the best candidate in the National League. Bryant has knocked in 99 RBIs and 26 homers in his first season in the majors. He looks every bit the part of a future MLB star.

Also included on the list was manager Joe Maddon, who took Stark’s award for NL Manager of the Year.

The Cubs look to continue a fantastic year in the postseason — though the team is still fighting for improved positioning.

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Chicago Sun-Times Spokesman: Bartman's not going to Cubs wild-card game By Rob Ogden

Despite more than $2,500 being raised on a GoFundMe account titled “Get Bartman to Cubs wildcard game,” a spokesman for Steve Bartman said the widely known Cubs fan won’t be attending the team’s wild-card game Oct. 7.

Fans raising money to send Steve Bartman to Cubs wild-card game

According to ESPN, Bartman says thanks, but no thanks:

“He has no intention of being at the wild card game,” a spokesman for Bartman said. “Steve is glad the money will go to a good cause and will be cheering on the Cubs as always.”

According to the page, if Bartman doesn’t accept the money, all proceeds donated will go toward the Alzheimer’s Association.

From the account:

“Lifelong Cubs fan wants to make amends for 2003, lets make it happen. First we need to find him to get him to the big game. If anyone knows where he is at, tell him we are looking for him. The money would pay for his expenses including his ticket, hotel room, flights and a little spending money.”

Bartman was written into Cubs lore after he reached for a foul ball during Chicago’s game-six loss during the 2003 NCLS – leading many misguided fans blame the loss on him.

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Daily Herald Maddon confident Schwarber will excel wherever he starts By Bruce Miles

MILWAUKEE -- Kyle Schwarber started in right field for the Cubs Friday night against the Brewers.

That could be a precursor of things to come. Schwarber could conceivably get the start in right next Wednesday night in the wild-card playoff game against the Pirates.

Left field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh (assuming the game is played there) is much more spacious than right field. However, Cubs manager Joe Maddon praised Schwarber's play no matter where it has been: behind the plate, in left field or in right."

"You know what? He's done fine," Maddon said. "That's the thing. He's played the outfield well. The catch he made at Wrigley not long ago, back to the wall, and the one coming in the other day, diving. He's played well out there. He played well behind the plate.

"The whole point is just to maximize what we're able to do at any one particular moment. I don't want to throw guys into situations without giving them some kind of work in advance. I thought it was a good time to do it."

In addition to starting Schwarber in right field Friday, Maddon put Kris Bryant in left field while starting Tommy La Stella at third base.

Not overthinking things:

The Cubs played the Pittsburgh Pirates 19 times this season, winning 11 games. So they won't overdo their preparation for Wednesday's wild-card game or get too bogged down in the details.

"I'm just talking about us against that pitcher on that particular day," Joe Maddon said.

"The minutia, I've learned that the scouting reports at that time of the year, if you can grab a nugget or two, and I mean a couple nuggets, and furthermore, don't even give them to your players. The players just need to go play.

"Our game requires an open, free mind to play and if you're bogging it down with stuff, man, it can only get in the way. Nineteen times. We didn't play them in spring training, thank God. I've gone through that, with the Red Sox. You talk about overkill. The team that plays the better game that night, catches the ball, works the better at-bat. Your pitcher is going to be in charge of the moment primarily. That's how I look at it."

Finishing strong:

Starlin Castro's double in Friday night's fourth inning put him within 10 hits of 1,000 for his career. No doubt Castro would have reached the milestone had it not been for a rough go in the middle of the season and losing his full- time starting job at shortstop to Addison Russell.

Castro does his starting at second base these days, and he's had a productive finish to his season. In Wednesday's game at Cincinnati, he matched his career high with 4 hits. In his previous 22 games entering Friday, he had a .440 on-base percentage and 20 RBI.

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Cubs.com Arrieta records best second-half ERA in history By Carrie Muskat

MILWAUKEE -- Earlier in the day, Jake Arrieta was simply "dad," buying his two kids warm jackets to handle the early autumn chill. Friday night, the Cubs right-hander switched gears and became the most unhittable second-half pitcher in Major League history.

The Brewers were no match for Arrieta, who threw six innings in the Cubs' 6-1 victory at Miller Park. It was his final start before the National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser, which will be Wednesday against the Pirates. If the two teams finished tied, the game will be played at Wrigley Field due to Chicago's 11-8 record vs. the Bucs in head-to-head meetings this season.

Arrieta is the first pitcher to win at least 22 games in a season since won 24 in 2011, and the first in the NL since won 22 in '08.

"He's unbelievable," Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said of Arrieta, who finished the season 22-6. "You get guys on base all the time and they say they've never seen anything like it. It's a credit to him. He works hard, and deserves everything he gets and is about to get. Now we've got the biggest games of our lives coming up. We'll be ready."

This was Arrieta's 20th quality start, and he's 16-1 with an 0.86 ERA in that stretch. His only loss was July 25 when the Phillies' no-hit the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

For the season, Arrieta posted a 1.77 ERA, and he's the first Cubs qualifying pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA since Grover Cleveland Alexander recorded a 1.91 ERA in 1920. He's the first pitcher since in 1985 to win 22 games and post an ERA under 2.00.

And if those numbers aren't staggering enough, since the All-Star break, he's given up nine earned runs over 107 1/3 innings for an 0.75 ERA, the lowest ERA after the break in Major League history. He's 12-1 in those 15 starts.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon knows good pitching. He had David Price in his Rays rotation when the left-hander won the Cy Young Award in 2012. Is Arrieta's year the single best season the manager has seen?

"Absolutely," Maddon said. "David won the Cy Young and was outstanding. But I've not seen [what Arrieta's done]; I don't think a lot of people have. If you break [Arrieta] down from the All-Star break to the end, I guess Mr. [Bob] Gibson is the only other dude, and he was my favorite pitcher growing up. You're hard pressed to find a better performance than [Arrieta] has put on for the last several months."

Well, Arrieta actually has had a better second half than the Cardinals' Hall of Famer, who was 11-4 with a 1.19 ERA in 16 starts after the break in 1968.

"That's like sacred ground for me," Maddon said when told his ace was better. "If he's beating , that's pretty impressive."

You don't know about me, but I'll bet you want to. pic.twitter.com/rs8tnS5JyO — (@Cubs) October 3, 2015

Will Arrieta beat the Dodgers' tandem of Zack Greinke and and win the NL Cy Young Award? "If that did not clinch his award, I don't know what would," Maddon said of Arrieta's outing.

Arrieta isn't thinking about awards. He's got at least one more start.

"Wednesday is the most important thing for us right now, and getting ready for that day is pretty much the most important thing to everybody here," he said.

And how would Rizzo approach Arrieta?

"See the ball and hit the ball," Rizzo said. "You've got to pick a side of the plate and try to stick with it. He makes mistakes like everyone else. It's a good thing I don't have to face him."

Early this season, Maddon said Arrieta had another level. The right-hander appears to have found it.

"The repetition of delivery is there, the stuff is the same as it was two months ago," Maddon said. " It's incredible. For all those reasons, I think he can continue this. ... To have the honor of managing that is pretty incredible."

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Cubs.com Arrieta works 6 scoreless, wins No. 22 By Carrie Muskat and Cash Kruth

MILWAUKEE -- Jake Arrieta tuned up for the National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser, winning his Major League-leading 22nd game, and Anthony Rizzo drove in three runs, including one on his 31st home , to power the Cubs to a 6-1 victory Friday night over the Brewers. Arrieta finished the regular season with a 0.75 ERA since the All-Star break, the lowest ERA in the second half in Major League history.

"If that did not clinch his [Cy Young] Award, I don't know what would," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "That had to be the clincher. Another quality start, a dominating performance. For me, that should put the icing on the cake right there."

The Cubs will face the Pirates in Wednesday's Wild Card Game, but the site has yet to be determined. Pittsburgh, which defeated Cincinnati in 12 innings Friday night, holds a two-game lead in the Wild Card standings with two games remaining. If the two teams finish with identical records, the Cubs hold the tiebreaker because they won the season series, 11-8, and would host the playoff game at Wrigley Field.

This was Arrieta's 20th consecutive quality start, and he's 16-1 with a 0.86 ERA (14 earned runs over 147 innings ) in that stretch, striking out 147 and walking 27. His only loss in that span was July 25 when the Phillies' Cole Hamels no-hit the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

"He's unbelievable," Rizzo said of Arrieta. "You get guys on base all the time and they say they've never seen anything like it. It's a credit to him. He works hard, and deserves everything he gets and is about to get. Now we've got the biggest games of our lives coming up. We'll be ready."

Before the game, Maddon said he was going to take a "pragmatic, prudent" approach regarding Arrieta's pitch in his final regular-season start. Arrieta is the first Cubs pitcher to reach 22 wins since Fergie Jenkins went 24-13 in 1971, and he's the first pitcher to win at least 22 games in a season since Justin Verlander won 24 in 2011, and the first in the NL since Brandon Webb won 22 in '08.

Milwaukee's run came on Khris Davis' leadoff against in the seventh inning.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Rizzo rakes: Rizzo inched to his first 100-RBI season. With one out in the fourth, he launched his 31st home run into the right-field bleachers. In the fifth, Rizzo smacked a two-run single off David Goforth to open a 4-0 lead. Rizzo is tied with Kris Bryant for the team lead with 99 RBIs, and the two have a little friendly competition going on. "I told him when I got 99, I said, 'Hey, history has shown throughout the year, whenever one of us catches the other, we usually get more RBIs,'" Rizzo said. "Hopefully there's five or six more there to come."

Outfield miscue costly: With two on and one out in the fifth, Bryant skied a high fly ball to right-center field. Brewers right fielder Domingo Santana headed to the ball, as did speedy center fielder Logan Schafer. Although the ball was closer to right field than center, Schafer -- the outfield general as a center fielder -- called for the ball and stood under it in front of Santana, who also tried to catch the ball, causing it to drop. The error, charged to Santana, proved costly, as it knocked starter Ariel Pena, who was impressive early, out of the game and led to a two-run single by Rizzo.

Davis delivers: Davis accounted for the Brewers' lone run in the seventh, launching a 1-1 sinker from Cahill over the center-field wall. It was Davis' team-high 27th homer and his 21st since the All-Star break -- the second-most in the NL during that span. Davis is hitting .333 with eight homers and 14 RBIs in his last 18 games.

Hot streaks: Cubs infielder Starlin Castro hit two doubles, and has hit safely in four of his last five games. He's nine hits away from 1,000 in his career. Since the All-Star break, Castro is batting .305. He isn't alone. Rookie Addison Russell also had two doubles, and has hit safely in his last three games.

QUOTABLE

"He's on a really good roll right now, no question. He's someone you just feel like you don't get pitches to hit in certain at-bats. When you're limited with baserunners, it's tough to get offense going against him." -- Brewers manager , on Arrieta

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Cubs starting have a 0.23 ERA in the last six games, giving up one over 39 1/3 innings.

WHAT'S NEXT

Cubs: makes his final regular-season start on Saturday when the Cubs play the Brewers. Hendricks is coming off a solid outing against the Royals in which he threw six scoreless innings, striking out nine to tie a career high. He has a 1.96 ERA in three starts against the Brewers this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. CT.

Brewers: Rookie righty Tyler Wagner, the club's No. 15 prospect per MLB.com, makes his third Major League start on Saturday at Miller Park against the Cubs. He didn't make it past the fourth inning in each of his previous two outings, allowing five runs in each.

Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.

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Cubs.com 'A different cat,' Arrieta keeps purring in finale By Mike Bauman

MILWAUKEE -- The Jake Arrieta for NL Cy Young bandwagon continued to roll Friday night, all the way into its final regular-season stop.

It is impossible to diminish the rare and historic quality of Arrieta's work over the last three-plus months. His 0.75 ERA since the All-Star break is the lowest post-All-Star break ERA in Major League history. In his 20 starts since June 21, Arrieta has an ERA of 0.86, not to mention a 16-1 record. His 22 victories are the most by a Cub pitcher since won 24 in 1971. His 1.77 ERA for the season is the best for a Cubs qualifying pitcher since Grover Cleveland Alexander put up a 1.91 in 1920.

Arrieta finished his regular-season work at Miller Park as the Cubs defeated the , 6-1. He was masterful as usual. He gave up no runs on two hits, walked none and struck out seven. He was limited to six innings only to preserve him for his next start, which will be against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser on Wednesday. He's the first pitcher to win at least 22 games in a season since Justin Verlander won 24 in 2011, and the first in the NL since Brandon Webb won 22 in '08.

"Tremendous," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Watching from the side you could see the explosive stuff. If that did not clinch his award I don't know what would. That had to be the clincher. Another quality start, a dominating performance. For me, that should put the icing on the cake right there."

Yes, there is Zack Greinke of the Dodgers with a 1.68 ERA. But nobody has put together a stretch like Arrieta has. The Cubs' rise has been directly tied to Arrieta's emergence as a dominating pitcher. Greinke, conversely, pitches for a team that was expected to win the NL West. How many people expected the Cubs to have the third best record in the National League? They don't get to this lofty level without Arrieta's dominant performances.

To the opposition, Arrieta has become a very difficult puzzle that every fifth day defies a solution.

"He's in such a sweet spot right now of what he's able to do on a consistent basis," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He's able to repeat four plus-pitches whenever he wants. And there's just a lot for the hitter to handle. It's too much almost for the hitter to handle right now when he executes. He's got everything working. He's executing.

"It becomes a big challenge for the hitter to get a pitch to hit in an at-bat. Maybe on the night you get one pitch to hit. If you foul it off are you going to get a pitch to hit? He's not giving you that. He's in a zone right now, there's no question about it. He's in that place where everybody tries to get."

Early in the year, Maddon predicted very good things from Arrieta, but what Arrieta produced has exceeded all reasonable expectations.

"I can't tell you that I expected all of this, but I expected really good," Maddon said. "He's taken everything to another level this year.

"His stuff is different, just the way the fastball moves combined with the velocity. And then the other pitches; the , I love his , which he doesn't throw that often, and now the has been introduced."

Success has not changed Arrieta, and Maddon figures this is part of the reason Arrieta succeeds. Maddon described a scene from Friday afternoon, sitting on the team bus outside the team hotel.

Arrieta drives up with his wife and two children, one of whom is an infant. Arrieta is unloading the car with the baby, the car seat, "whatever he's asked to carry."

"Not too many guys do that," Maddon said. "Not many guys winning 20 games do that stuff. That, to me, explains him. He's a different cat. He definitely hears his own beat and he knows what this is all about, and he knows what works for him. He's the same [on and off the field] and I like that."

"Before I get to the field, I've got to be Dad," Arrieta said. "We just got back from doing a little shopping. The kids need jackets. It's getting a little cold. Summer's gone up here in this part of the country. Had to get some stuff to keep the kids warm."

There was something to be said, Arrieta noted, for being a regular guy and a good teammate, as opposed to playing the star.

"I want to be the same guy every day, regardless of what's going on off the field, on the field," he said. "Show up and be consistent for my teammates, both in my performance and just being a good person. I think those kinds of things that you take serious in your life off the field carry over on the field. That's the only way I know how to do it."

Based on Jake Arrieta's unprecedented run of dominant pitching, that is also the way to become the best pitcher in the National League in 2015.

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Cubs.com Schwarber adds right field to defensive options By Carrie Muskat

MILWAUKEE -- Kyle Schwarber made his first start in right field Friday night, part of Cubs manager Joe Maddon's plan to see all of the options available for Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser against the Pirates.

"I wanted to see what it looked like," Maddon said of Schwarber, who has started in left field and at . Schwarber has handled left field just fine, and even made some impressive catches at Wrigley Field.

"He's done fine," Maddon said of the rookie. "The whole point is to maximize what we're able to do at any one particular moment. I don't want to throw guys in a situation without giving them some kind of work in advance."

Maddon was presented with some statistical breakdowns on Friday regarding the Pirates, and said he'll likely meet with Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein on Sunday to go over the roster. Teams don't need to finalize their Wild Card roster until early Wednesday.

"The fact is we have options -- it's not like, 'You've got to do it this way,'" Maddon said. "You're seeing that now, you're seeing us play well with guys all over the place."

Worth noting

• The Cubs are relying on rookies such as Schwarber, Kris Bryant and Addison Russell. Does their youth help them avoid feeling any pressure regarding the franchise's long World Series drought?

"Cubs history is wonderful," Maddon said. "The tradition of being a Chicago Cub is outstanding, and I'm talking about the players and the ballpark and the city and all of the lure that's attached to that. Superstition, for me, there's no place for it in Cubs history or tradition. If you choose to vibrate there, that's your concern.

"Our guys, for me, it's about playing winning baseball every night and that's it," he said. "I don't want them to get caught up in stuff that doesn't matter. I want them more process-oriented than outcome-oriented. If you focus on today, that other stuff should not matter."

• Jason Motte, on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain, threw in the for the second time this week and second time since going on the DL. There is still a chance the right-hander could contribute if the Cubs advance in the postseason.

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Cubs.com Cubs eye Wild Card position in final series with Brewers By Cash Kruth

The Brewers and Cubs continue their final regular-season series Saturday at Miller Park, with the Cubs' hopes of hosting the National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser at Wrigley Field still alive.

Pittsburgh holds a two-game lead in the Wild Card standings with two games remaining. If the two teams finish with identical records, the Cubs hold the tiebreaker because they won the season series, 11-8, and would host the playoff game.

Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks makes his final regular-season start against a team he's dominated this season, especially at Miller Park. Hendricks is 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA in three starts against the Brewers, including a 0.73 mark in two starts in Milwaukee. He also struck out nine Royals over six shutout innings in his last start.

The Brewers counter with rookie righty Tyler Wagner, the club's No. 15 prospect per MLB.com. Wagner, making his third Major League start, has not worked past the fourth inning in each of his previous two outings.

"He's got another chance at it and we'll see what happens," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He's going to face a tough lineup. It's going to be a challenge."

The game is available to stream free out of market on MLB.TV. Blackout restrictions apply.

Things to know about this game

• This series features three of the NL's hottest hitters since the All-Star break. Brewers Khris Davis' 21 second-half homers rank second in the NL, while his 48 second-half RBIs are tied for fifth with Chicago's Kris Bryant. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo ranks fourth with 51.

• Bryant is just one RBI shy of becoming the first NL rookie to drive in 100 runs since Washington's Ryan Zimmerman in 2006.

• Current Brewers hitters are slashing just .219/.265/.229 against Hendricks.

• Cubs starters have combined to post a 0.23 ERA over their last six starts.

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ESPNChicago.com Jake Arrieta completes regular season to remember By Jesse Rogers

MILWAUKEE -- So what did the possible National League Cy Young Award winner do before his final regular-season start on Friday? This would be his last chance to make an impression on voters, so another dominant performance was in order.

But first came some shopping.

“Kids needed a couple jackets,” Jake Arrieta said after the Cubs’ 6-1 win over the Brewers. “It’s getting cold.”

It’s getting cold everywhere but on the mound, where Arrieta has dominated team after team every five days, especially in the second half. In five more days, he’ll be on center stage pitching for the Cubs in the NL wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But after Friday’s six shutout innings, it was time reflect on a historic season that produced the lowest second-half ERA (0.75) in history.

“I have not seen this,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I don’t think a lot of people have.

“To have the honor of managing that is pretty incredible.”

Watching it is pretty incredible, as well. And the achievements are mind-boggling. Here are just a few:

20 consecutive quality starts to finish the season

A 16-1 record with a 0.86 ERA over those 20 games

48 walks and 236 on the season

Lowest ERA for a Cubs starter since 1920 (Grover Alexander)

22-6, 1.77 ERA on the year

We could go on and on, as the Cy Young voters undoubtedly will dissect his season as compared to that of Zack Greinke of the . All things being equal -- and they nearly are between the two pitchers -- Arrieta’s second half might be what tips the scales.

“If that didn’t clinch his award, I don’t know what would,” Maddon said. “That had to be the clincher.”

Arrieta won’t let himself go there just yet. There will be plenty of time to collect awards and reflect on it all, but his biggest games are still ahead of him.

“When the season is over, we’ll think about that a little bit more,” Arrieta said. “Wednesday is the most important thing for everyone here. That’s where I want to keep my focus.”

Keeping his focus hasn’t been a problem. Neither has staying humble. Arrieta has been the same person even though the world views him differently than it did just a few months ago.

“It’s kind of foolish to change your day before you get to the field,” Arrieta said of his shopping spree. “I want to be the same guy every day regardless of what’s going on, on the field.”

Teammate Anthony Rizzo added, “He’s awesome. He’s great on the field. He has a great family. He works hard. He works really hard.”

Arrieta’s diet and fitness routine have become legendary, and he has plans to do something in the wellness industry after his career is done. But that’s not happening anytime in the near future. Right now it’s about savoring a historic regular season that even other pitchers are marveling at.

“It’s almost mind-blowing how dominant he’s been,” Jason Hammel said. “To sit back and watch zero after zero after zero. It’s incredible.

“You expect to get one pitch to hit. With Jake, you go up there, you’re not going to get one pitch to hit. You’re almost helpless. There’s almost nothing you can do about it.”

Arrieta has proven that over and over again, getting stronger as the season has worn on. He finished it on a 22- inning scoreless streak, vaulting him right into the middle of the Cy Young conversation. Six weeks ago, that wasn’t the case.

“That should put the icing on the cake right there,” Maddon said. “Watching from the side [dugout], you can see the explosive stuff.”

Just think what it’s like to see it in the batter’s box. Every ball moves while nothing is left over the plate. It’s what the Pirates have seen five times this year, scoring exactly three earned runs off Arrieta. Can he do it again?

“We have the biggest game of our life coming up,” Rizzo said. “We’ll be ready.”

We know at least one player will be. Asked where his confidence was after his breakout year, Arrieta simply smiled.

“It’s pretty good," he said. "It’s pretty good.”

So is he.

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ESPNChicago.com A review of Jake Arrieta's historic second half of the season By ESPN Stats and Information

Jake Arrieta put the finishing touch on a historic second half of his MLB season with six scoreless innings Friday night.

We take a look at what he was able to do and how low his ERA dropped.

Lowest ERA in Season From August On

Since ER Became Official in 1913 2015 Jake Arrieta 0.41 1943 Spud Chandler 0.83 2012 0.92 2011 0.93

Unstoppable since August

Jake Arrieta has a 0.41 ERA in 12 starts since the start of August. From ELIAS: That's by far the lowest ERA from August on in a season since earned runs became official in 1913 (minimum 10 starts).

Arrieta's 236 strikeouts were a big part to the Chicago Cubs setting a new record for most strikeouts in a single season by National League team's pitchers, breaking the 2003 Cubs record of 1,404 strikeouts. Including their win against the Brewers Friday, Cubs pitchers have struck out 1,414 batters.

Quality all season

From ELIAS: Arrieta has now thrown 20 consecutive quality starts, the longest streak to end a season since earned runs became official in 1913.

He bests teammate , who has the second-longest such streak at 19 games (2014). Arrieta also beat out , who had 17 such starts in 1997, and (16).

How Arrieta dominated since Aug. 1

In four of his 12 starts, including Friday, he didn’t allow a hard-hit ball. He allowed 16 hard-hit balls total over his final 12 starts, an average of fewer than 1.5 per game. On balls hit into play against him, 16 were hard-hit while 132 were softly hit.

He hit as many home runs as he allowed (one). The same is true dating back to his June 21 start against the Twins (two HR allowed, two hit). The only HR in those last 12 starts against him came off the bat of Aaron Altherr of the Phillies.

He allowed eight extra-base hits, the same number of double plays he induced.

On pitches thrown in the lower half of the zone, Arrieta allowed a .097 average, struck out 32.7 percent of the batters he faced, and walked only 3.5 percent.

The highest batting average he has allowed with any of his pitches was .168 with his slider.

Arrieta allowed a .143 batting average and .199 in at-bats to end in a breaking ball.

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ESPNChicago.com Cubs' Chris Coghlan on reduced PT -- 'I don't try to read into it' By Jesse Rogers

MILWAUKEE -- While Chicago Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan wonders about his role in the upcoming wild-card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Joe Maddon didn't deny rookie Kyle Schwarber could be in right field when the teams face off on Wednesday night.

Schwarber started in right for the first time this season on Friday in a 6-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers while Kris Bryant was in left field, leaving Coghlan on the bench to strike out as a pinch hitter.

"I definitely have thought about it," Coghlan said of his role in the wild-card game. "Once your playing time decreases you start to have different questions. At the end of the day it's only about winning. That's it. Do I think I give our team the best chance to win in the wild-card game against Gerrit Cole? Yeah, I do. I feel like I'm one of the best eight guys out there."

Coghlan is 0-for-8 against Cole this season and 2-for-13 in his career, but Maddon hasn't made any decisions yet as he and the front office are trying different permutations in the field and in the this week.

Clinching a playoff berth with nine games left in the regular season has given the manager a chance to experiment.

For example, Bryant had a start at first base recently while Schwarber had one behind the plate on Thursday. It's left Coghlan with less playing time than he's used to.

"I don't know," Coghlan said. "I don't try to read into it. He has his reasons for doing things. I learned early in the year not to try and think on the same wavelength. It's not really possible.

"It's been a weird year. I haven't been playing all of a sudden. I don't know why."

Coghlan is hitting .245 with 16 home runs and 41 RBIs, but by most accounts he's had a better season than his batting average would indicate.

His line-drive percentage (28 percent) is about the same as Anthony Rizzo's (29 percent) and he's still taking his walks, as he had a .359 on-base percentage in September despite a .234 average.

"Consistent playing time is the biggest thing," Coghlan said of his recent decline in production.

It wasn't that long ago Coghlan had the longest active consecutive games played streak in the majors, but he's had only 33 plate appearances in the past 17 games, including one on Friday.

Maddon was asked before the game if Coghlan still could start in Wednesday's wild-card game.

"You could see him there," Maddon responded. "You could."

But on Friday it was Schwarber's turn in right. He was followed by Austin Jackson.

"I wanted to make sure he got some work out there," Maddon said of Schwarber. "It's something you can see. ... The whole point is to maximize what we are able to do at any one particular moment. ... We have options. We don't have to do it just one way."

Coghlan says he'll be ready as a starter or off the bench, but there's little doubt he feels he should be in the lineup come Wednesday.

"I expect to play every day," he said. "[Maddon has] already made his decision I'm not going to play against lefties, so I'm content in that. But if a right-hander is pitching I expect to play that night. So when it's not there, yeah, it is a disappointment.

"If you look at numbers at the end of the day, I do feel like I've produced enough to earn that. Whether that happens or not, I don't know. That's all up to Joe ... I do know with Joe, when you're not playing, from the third inning on you have to be ready."

Coghlan was asked whether it matters if he gets a few hits this weekend against the Brewers.

"For me? No," he responded. "Maybe for Joe. It's been a long year. My body of work speaks for itself. Or it should."

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ESPNChicago.com Rapid Reaction: Cubs 6, Brewers 1 By Jesse Rogers

MILWAUKEE -- The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 on Friday night.

How it happened: After striking out five times in the first two innings, the Cubs got to Brewers starter Ariel Pena for four runs over the next three. A Tommy La Stella double in the third inning drove in the first run, while Anthony Rizzo’s 31st home run of the season put the Cubs up 2-0 in the fourth. Rizzo produced his 98th and 99th RBIs with a two-run single in the fifth, and and Starlin Castro added RBI hits the following two innings. Meanwhile, Cubs starter Jake Arrieta did what he normally does: He swiftly went through the Brewers without an issue. He lasted six innings, giving up two hits while striking out seven. He lowered his ERA to 1.77 on the season while winning his 22nd game of the year against six losses. Khris Davis homered off reliever Trevor Cahill in the seventh to ruin the shutout bid.

What it means: The Cubs kept things rolling with their 95th win of the season and sixth in a row. With Arrieta’s scoreless performance, Cubs starters have given up just one run over the past six games. Rizzo and Kris Bryant are now tied for the team lead in RBIs with 99 apiece. The Cubs also kept their hopes for hosting the wild-card game alive.

Arrieta: He finished his incredible season on a 22-inning scoreless streak that helped produce the lowest second- half ERA (0.75) in league history. He also threw his 20th consecutive quality start while improving his record since Aug. 1 to 11-0. It’s hard not to imagine him as the Cy Young favorite after being a distant second or third just six weeks ago.

What’s next: Game 2 of the series takes place on Saturday evening when Kyle Hendricks (7-7, 4.09) faces Tyler Wagner (0-1, 11.74).

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ESPNChicago.com Campaign fails to convince Steve Bartman to attend Cubs' wild-card game By Jesse Rogers

MILWAUKEE -- Steve Bartman will not attend the Chicago Cubs' first playoff game in seven years despite a campaign designed to raise money to get him there.

A GoFundMe page started by Keque Escobedo was more than halfway to its goal of $5,000. Reached Friday, a longtime spokesman for Bartman said thanks, but no thanks.

"It's nice of these people to think of Steve, but he won't be taking advantage of the offer," Frank Murtha said. "He's perfectly capable of attending the game on his own, though he has no intention of being at the wild-card game."

Bartman hasn't spoken publicly since becoming part of baseball lore in October 2003. With the Cubs leading the Marlins 3-0 in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the NL Championship Series, Bartman was vilified for putting his hands on a foul ball that appeared to be a potential catch by Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. The Cubs went on to lose the game and blow a 3-2 series lead, and they haven't won a postseason contest since.

The wild-card game is likely to be played in Pittsburgh, though there is still a chance the Cubs could host it depending on the outcome of games this weekend.

Either way, Bartman will not be there.

Escobedo's GoFundMe page, which was created Monday, read: "Lifelong Cubs fan wants to make amends for 2003, let's make it happen. First we need to find him to get him to the big game. If anyone knows where he is at, tell him we are looking for him. The money would pay for his expenses including his ticket, hotel room, flights and a little spending money.

"If he cannot be found by time of the big game all the proceeds raised will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association."

Murtha said Bartman is happy to hear the money would go to charity.

"Steve is glad the money will go to a good cause and will be cheering on the Cubs as always," Murtha said.

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CSNChicago.com Jake Arrieta to make final start of regular season By Jesse Rogers

MILWAUKEE – Chicago Cubs starter Jake Arrieta makes his final start of the regular season on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers as he attempts to win his 22nd game of the year while owning the lowest second-half ERA (0.80) by a starter in baseball history.

Arrieta is 15-1 with a 0.89 ERA over 19 consecutive quality starts including a 10-0 mark with 0.44 ERA since Aug.1. He’ll be limited to 85 to 95 pitches as he’s scheduled to start the wild card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.

Here’s the starting lineup for the Cubs behind Arrieta:

Dexter Fowler, CF

Kyle Schwarber, RF

Kris Bryant, LF

Anthony Rizzo, 1b

Starlin Castro, 2b

Miguel Montero, C

Addison Russell, SS

Arrieta, P

Tommy La Stella, 3b

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CSNChicago.com Kris Bryant’s Rookie of the Year season is just the beginning for Cubs By Patrick Mooney

MILWAUKEE – Kris Bryant is too polite and media savvy to say he deserves to be the National League Rookie of the Year.

A rare unfiltered moment might have come on Thursday afternoon, when Bryant walked out of ’s visiting clubhouse after the Cubs beat the again.

Dressed up as a character from Disney’s “Frozen” in a blond wig and a tight teal dress, Bryant stuck out his tongue and gave the thumbs-down sign to the reporters trying to take photos with their phones.

Rookie hazing aside, it’s hard to picture where the Cubs would be without Bryant.

Bryant grew up playing with and against Bryce Harper in Las Vegas, but he is a polar-opposite personality from the superstar/MVP frontrunner. The Cubs have a franchise player who has handled the nonstop attention and said all the right things since getting drafted No. 2 overall in 2013.

The Cubs had to lose 101 games in 2012 – the first season for the Theo Epstein administration – to be in position to select Bryant out of the University of San Diego and make the 6-foot-5 slugger a building block.

The Cubs lost 96 games in 2013 and could win 97 this year. It doesn’t happen without Bryant’s accelerated development.

“It’s hard to turn around a team that quick,” Bryant said. “But credit to the front office and all those guys. They’ve been doing a great job. They found good players – not just myself – (drafting) Kyle (Schwarber) and (making) some trades and signing Jon (Lester) was huge.

“Usually, if you pick high in the draft, it takes awhile to get back down from there. But to think that was two years ago – it has turned around pretty quick.”

This should be a slam-dunk decision for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters: Bryant entered the season’s final weekend leading all major-league rookies in home runs (26), RBI (99), on-base percentage (.369), slugging percentage (.495) and runs scored (86).

“I think there’s a lot of good rookies out there, especially on this team, too,” Bryant said. “All of them are very deserving. We all do things very differently, but I still don’t even really know how that works in terms of voting or any of that. So it’s good for me to be kind of naïve about that.

“But I definitely think my first year has been a pretty good one and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. So if I’m fortunate enough to get that award, then it would be pretty cool.”

Bryant has also stolen 13 bases (and done enough damage to justify striking out almost 200 times). He has moved around unselfishly, playing third base and all three outfield positions (plus a six-inning cameo at first base).

Bryant embraces the endorsement opportunities and seems to enjoy shooting the commercials, but he’s not a me- first guy. His aggressiveness on the bases and all-around hustle will become part of this team’s identity in the future.

“He plays like that every day,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We have a lot of good players here. But when one of your best players – who everybody knows is going to be here for a long time – plays that way, the impact it has on the rest of the organization is incredible.

“So when a young player comes up, and you want him to play that way, and if they’re giving you any kind of resistance, look at KB. That’s it.”

Maddon told the same story he brought up when the Cubs reported to camp in Arizona almost eight months ago.

“A couple years ago, we’re playing the Pirates in spring training with the Rays and it was 10 o’clock at night,” Maddon said. “(Andrew) McCutchen hit a routine groundball to shortstop – I mean, absolutely routine – and beat it out.

“When the game was over, I walked up to him and said, ‘Man, that is so impressive. That’s gonna set the tone for your entire team.’ We have those guys now.”

Playing those service-time games in April means Bryant can’t become a free agent until after the 2021 season, making this Rookie of the Year campaign simply the beginning of what the Cubs hope will be a run of sustained dominance.

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CSNChicago.com Cubs ready for October with Jake Arrieta possibly clinching Cy Young Award By Patrick Mooney

MILWAUKEE – Bring it on. There’s no other way to interpret Jake Arrieta’s game face and body language now, looking like he’s ready to put the Cubs on his broad shoulders and lead them through October.

Arrieta dominated the Milwaukee Brewers during Friday night’s 6-1 victory at Miller Park, cruising through six scoreless innings in his final tune-up before the National League’s wild-card game and possibly locking up a Cy Young Award.

“I’m definitely prepared, obviously confident,” Arrieta said. “Everything’s where it needs to be.”

Arrieta finished an unbelievable regular season with 22 wins, a 1.77 ERA and 236 strikeouts in 229 innings. Fair or not, the Pittsburgh Pirates could win almost 100 games and have their entire year come down to nine innings against a Cy Young winner.

“If that did not clinch his award, I don’t know what would,” manager Joe Maddon said after watching Arrieta limit the Brewers to two singles, finishing with seven strikeouts against zero walks. “Right there, that had to be the clincher.”

Maddon pulled Arrieta after 72 pitches, knowing there will be bigger moments ahead for his 95-win team. But what a finishing kick for Arrieta, who hasn’t allowed a run in his last 22 innings and closed with 20 straight quality starts, going 16-1 with a 0.86 ERA.

“That would be cool,” Arrieta said of his Cy Young chances. “When the season’s over, we’ll think about that a little more. But obviously Wednesday is the most important thing for everybody here. And that’s where I’m going to keep my focus for now.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers have their own devastating 1-2 punch, and we’ll see how Zack Greinke (18-3, 1.68 ERA, 0.85 WHIP) and Clayton Kershaw (16-7, 2.16 ERA, almost 300 strikeouts) respond this weekend against the .

But Arrieta’s 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break will be the lowest in major-league history. He did this for a playoff contender in baseball’s toughest division and threw that no-hitter at in front of a national- television audience.

“I can’t tell you I expected all of this,” said Maddon, who guided the at a time when Arrieta struggled to establish himself as a major-league pitcher with the .

“From a distance, I saw the potential in the past. The way the season started out, he wasn’t really nailing it down like he could. But then all of a sudden…”

The Cubs have scored a grand total of four runs in Arrieta’s six losses. The last team to beat “Snake” was the on July 25 – the day Cole Hamels threw a no-hitter at Wrigley Field.

“His stuff is different,” Maddon said. “Just the way the fastball moves. (It’s) the velocity combined with movement and then the other pitches. The slider. I love his curveball, which he doesn’t even throw that often, and now the changeup has been introduced.

“My point in the beginning of the year was (he) had all these different weapons that he didn’t know how to use in particular moments.

“He’s figured out how to only break the other goodies out when it’s necessary.”

At some point this offseason, back home in Austin, Texas, Arrieta will try to wrap his mind around what just happened, but really he’s just getting started now.

“We don’t have time for that yet,” Arrieta said. “Enjoy the win tonight and start getting ready for Pittsburgh on Wednesday.”

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CSNChicago.com Maddon’s playoff message to Cubs and Schwarber's role in wild-card game By Patrick Mooney

MILWAUKEE – The Cubs should run all the numbers, analyze where the Pittsburgh Pirates will probably hit the ball against Jake Arrieta and break down every possible lineup combination and bullpen matchup.

But the National League wild-card game will likely hinge on Arrieta pitching like a Cy Young Award winner, whether or not he can do what did to the Pirates last year, carrying the to their third World Series title in five seasons.

Yes, manager Joe Maddon wanted another look and played Kyle Schwarber in right field against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at Miller Park. That could be a wild-card preview, especially since PNC Park’s dimensions mean there is less ground for a part-time catcher to cover in right field than in left.

Maddon also started Kris Bryant in left field, still experimenting and maximizing versatility at Game 160 to get a better feel for Game 163.

“All these guys have been all over the map,” Maddon said. “I wanted to make sure they’re aware of all the different parts. I wanted to see what it looked like.”

The buildup to this one-game playoff has intensified the obsession Cubs fans and the Chicago media have with the daily lineup. But on some level, the Cubs know this is overkill after playing the Pirates 19 times already this season – and winning 11 of those games.

“I’ve asked for our geeks to send me some stuff to just look at,” Maddon said. “I’m always looking for other people to give me opinions.

“(It’s more) the skills that we have, whether we’re looking for more offense – or more defense – and how that plays. But to break down all the minutia…

“I’ve learned that the scouting reports at that time of the year – if you could grab a nugget or two – don’t even give them to your players. They just need to go play. Now if there’s something in-game you can remind somebody about, that’s probably the best way.

“Believe me, it sounds like you’re nuts. They should be able to handle this. They’re big-league players. They’ve been doing this for a long time.

“Our game really requires kind of an open, free mind to play. And if you’re bogging it down with stuff, man, it can only get in the way.”

That’s how Starlin Castro has been playing since losing his job to Addison Russell. The three-time All-Star shortstop has looked sharp defensively at second base, carefree in the clubhouse and locked in at home plate in September (1.202 OPS).

Castro should also feel confident facing Gerrit Cole (19-8, 2.60 ERA), going 6-for-17 with a walk and a sacrifice fly in 19 plate appearances against Pittsburgh’s ace.

“He definitely plays in a very non-uptight manner,” Maddon said. “I love the fact that he goes out there and he’s tension-free.”

Ultimately, it took four years for the Theo Epstein administration to build a playoff roster. The rest is fringe stuff, which could still be important in an elimination game featuring two stud pitchers and two teams with at least 190 wins combined.

But the Cubs already made their biggest decisions, drafting big bats like Schwarber and Bryant and trading for foundation pieces in Russell and Arrieta and hiring the manager you would want making all those decisions in real time.

“It’s the team that plays the better game that night, catches the ball, works a better at-bat,” Maddon said. “Your pitcher’s going to be in charge of the moment, primarily. That’s how I look at it.”

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Chicago Tribune Tribune Flashback: Billy Williams' rocky path to rookie stardom with Cubs By

In 1961, Billy Williams arrived in Chicago with considerably less fanfare or anticipation than awaited Kris Bryant this season.

Bryant, a leading candidate to join Williams as a National League Rookie of the Year, was the second pick in the 2013 amateur draft by the Cubs out of the University of San Diego. Bryant won the Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur baseball player in the country.

Williams, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, emerged from rural Whistler, Ala., just outside Mobile, where his high school had no baseball team. At 15, Williams played in adult amateur leagues with men who would pick him up at his house and drive him to ballparks throughout Alabama.

"They would swing by and blow their horns," Williams recalled in his autobiography.

The baseball-rich area also spawned Hall of Famers such as Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and Satchel Paige.

Two days after graduating from high school in 1956, Williams was offered $1,500 to sign with the Cubs organization by Ivy Griffin, a scout who lived in Mobile.

Even considering inflation, Williams' modest deal pales in comparison with Bryant's $6.7 million signing bonus. Griffin never saw Williams play in the majors; he died in a car accident in Gainesville, Fla., in 1961, when he fell asleep at the wheel on a scouting trip.

To this day, Williams, 77, carries copies of the crude scouting reports that were written about him. One of them reads: "Good-looking colored boy from a good home."

A scout from another team wrote: "He may not make it out of A-ball."

Said another scout: "He has a hitch in his swing, but he is making good progress."

Progress? The left-handed-hitting Williams finished his 18-year career — all but two with the Cubs — with 426 homers, 1,475 RBIs and a .290 average.

Despite signing a pro contract, Williams did not have it easy at first. He faced blatant discrimination in the minors and briefly quit the game while playing for Double-A San Antonio in 1959, where he was a teammate of future Cubs star Ron Santo.

Even though he was hitting .320 and playing well in the field, Williams went back to Whistler and had to be talked into returning to the team by the legendary Buck O'Neil, who was a scout and later a for the Cubs.

"I told my dad I would rather get a job back home doing pretty much anything else than to go through the humiliation I was going through in San Antonio," Williams said.

Williams and the team's other black players stayed in separate, run-down hotels away from the white players and remained on the bus when the team stopped at restaurants, relying on teammates to bring them sandwiches.

When he finally decided to return to the minors, Williams was rapidly promoted to Triple A and played 18 late- season games with the Cubs. He spent most of the 1960 season in the minors before another late-season call-up, then made the opening-day roster in 1961 at age 22.

He went on to set Cubs rookie records with 25 home runs and 86 RBIs in 146 games his rookie season. Those marks stood until Bryant broke them this year.

"I never swing for fences, I just try to meet the ball," the soft-spoken Williams told Tribune baseball writer Richard Dozer in 1961.

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Chicago Tribune Baseball's staged celebrations are starting to lose their fizz By Bernie Lincicome

Joy deserves its moments, however misplaced in the larger picture. So seeing the Cubs squirting champagne on each other after achieving the bare minimum of success can be taken in the spirit of the occasion.

That would be the spirit of relief, disbelief and, for the Cubs, infrequency.

The Cubs have earned the right to dance and strut and hug each other for lesser achievements than coming in last on the postseason invitation list.

Most years just getting to the ballpark on time deserves a gold star and clean socks.

It has been a week of clubhouse celebrations, each one wetter and louder than the last, yet redundant and familiar. Being happy has become a duty, far beyond mere congratulations. It isn't real without the mess.

Champagne is the liquid gush of gloat and it has been since the night they invented champagne. And better on the outside than the inside. Champagne is the worst-tasting stuff this side of Gatorade; it's fluid yogurt. And, apparently, it burns your eyes too.

Sodas are also fizzed and aimed at fellow warriors, non-alcoholic sprays, a bit for safety but also in consideration of players who might have alcohol problems, and they know who they are.

Not to set a bad example for the kids — always think about the kids. One imagines a child getting some errant spray during the inevitable salute to the fans and licking his lips and finding he has been splashed with ginger ale instead of demi sec. It would break his heart.

"Say it ain't so, Kris. Say it ain't so."

You sigh to acknowledge that happiness, which should be spontaneous and impulsive, has become staged and amped, rehearsed and mechanical, familiar and commercial.

Protective sheeting is strung up in clubhouses displaying sponsors' names, rather like those logoed backdrops at news conferences where the wisdom of winners seems brought to you by banks and health care.

The most obvious illustration of the fine art of theatrical happiness are the goggles. Ski goggles now, but can a welder's mask be far behind? Why not do the whole thing behind a giant sneeze guard?

Protection from joy does not accentuate joy. It just makes it seem dishonest. Does the first baseman dancing around with ski goggles and a rain slicker really have his heart in the moment?

Boastful T-shirts and ballcaps materialize as if achievement itself is the tailor. On sale tomorrow, by the way.

Ah, just another piggyback by commerce, like the question to the winner about what he is going to do now that he has won it all.

"I'm going to Disney World!"

What about a wild-card entry? Now that you have won almost nothing, what are you going to do? "I'm going to 7- Eleven!"

You do wonder what the Cubs do next, should they defeat the Pirates in their single-game audition for the real October. And what comes after that, should they advance through the layers of playoffs? Each achievement would be greater than the last and require a greater salute.

I would imagine that should they actually win the World Series, nothing less than 50-year single-malt scotch would be the beverage of choice. I recommend a Glenfiddich at $16,000 a bottle, and this leaves room for some Courvoisier (running into six figures) in case they do it again.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, much as the Cubs — and the Pirates, Dodgers, Royals, Blue Jays and the rest — have done.

There is no set procedure, and with as many as 19 opportunities to celebrate as the playoffs shrink to a final champion, a little order is in order. Anniversaries have established rewards, like paper for the first, wood for the fifth and so on, leading up to gold and diamonds. Why not start with O'Doul's and work up to Dom Perignon?

The point is, you do not give gold for a third year of marriage (leather), lest there be no greater prize for later.

Or maybe forgo the whole manipulated ritual altogether, if it is so dangerous that protective safety gear is required.

And if one celebration is all you get, well, you have your selfies and your street shoes stayed dry.

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Chicago Tribune Making playoffs a thrill, but Tom Ricketts far from satisfied By David Haugh

Tom Ricketts' face is easier to read than the Wrigley Field marquee, especially when asked about the idea of vindication.

Ricketts winced, pursing his lips like someone who just swallowed a lemon. The Cubs will end a regular season Sunday that felt more like a beginning, the National League wild-card play-in game looms Wednesday, and construction on the team's 101-year-old ballpark outside Ricketts' office window symbolizes progress that has made this a most satisfying year.

Has it been a vindicating one for Ricketts?

"I don't feel that,'' the Cubs chairman told the Tribune last week. "First of all, we're not there yet. Our goal is to win the World Series, not be the second wild card. Obviously, it's great progress this year but we're still on the journey and the goal is still out there.''

But not only has the reality changed for the man whose family purchased the team in 2009, but the perception of Ricketts is that he has improved from clumsy executive to capable leader — not that he has noticed.

"In the end, we're going to be judged by whether or not we won,'' Ricketts said. "A lot of what happens in the middle is just noise. I hope we've built trust with the fans. What the Cubs have had to go through to stabilize the team was asking a lot of fans and I'm not sure a lot of other teams could have done it but our fans are so loyal. They want to see a championship. They're with us through this process."

At the end of a relaxed, reflective 45-minute interview in his office, Ricketts looked pensive as he escorted me toward the exit. Before shaking hands to say goodbye, he made a request. A week's worth of talking to every local and national outlet interested in baseball's best postseason story had worn Ricketts out — media cynics referred to it as the victory lap — but he wanted to add one last thing for emphasis.

"I don't want you to make it sound like I'm satisfied at all,'' Ricketts said, looking me in the eye. "We haven't won anything yet.''

Running the baseball team he fell in love with as a young man, Ricketts insists there are no bad days on the job and "I've even enjoyed it in the years we were losing.''

But if this month represents the peak so far, the valley came during his first full season as Cubs chairman. Calling former manager last fall to inform him the Cubs were going to replace him with Joe Maddon challenged Ricketts on a personal level, but nothing professionally tested his resolve like August 2010. That's when manager retired abruptly with 38 games left to care for his ailing mother, leaving behind a team in disarray and an organization lacking direction.

"That was pretty rough,'' Ricketts said of the season in which the Cubs finished 75-87.

Only Starlin Castro remains from that team.

"We had the oldest starting lineup in baseball, the third-highest payroll, a bad record, and a bottom-of-the-table farm system,'' Ricketts said. "Walking through the crowd on those days, the team wasn't playing very inspired baseball, and fans were like, 'Hey, we need a plan, what's the plan?' I couldn't really talk about it and there wasn't much to announce or say except we had a real challenge to address.''

Ricketts knew Theo Epstein by reputation but the two never had met. That changed one October day in 2011 when Ricketts arranged a meeting at his family's New York apartment to avoid being seen in Chicago or Boston.

Conditioned from life as a Cubs fan, Ricketts feared the worst.

"I didn't know him and was just worried,'' Ricketts said. "I didn't want to bring someone in with a big ego or someone who didn't treat people well.''

Almost immediately, Ricketts sensed his worry was unwarranted.

"We sat down and the first thing Theo said was, 'I don't know what you expect, but it's not just me, it's a whole bunch of people, a group that works hard together, starting with scouting, training and building up to the GM, so you have to have a great organization,''' Ricketts said. "That was the first thing he wanted me to know at our interview, and I pretty much knew right then he was the right guy for us.''

Luring Epstein with his two World Series rings away from the Red Sox — even if, in Epstein's words, he was "near my expiration date" — marked the true beginning of legitimacy for Ricketts as Cubs chairman. Without Epstein, there likely is no Joe Maddon. Without Maddon, there is no Jon Lester. Nodding his head, Ricketts agreed no other decision made before or since hiring Epstein surpasses its significance during his regime.

"Obviously, bringing Theo into the organization was the biggest thing we've done, by far, to improve our chances of winning,'' Ricketts said. "People think of Theo as an analytical guy, which he is, but what I've seen is a guy who knows how to choose the right people.

"The other thing he does so well is sees the whole battlefield. Everything we do today has an effect on the next three or four years.''

In the first three seasons after Epstein took over, 2012-2014, the Cubs averaged 95 losses. It would take all of the extraordinary patience Epstein noticed in Ricketts during their first meeting to endure such an epic stretch of losing. When the man with an MBA from the University of Chicago gives advice to young executives, he tells them the biggest key is "to get A players in every chair.'' The next most important thing: Organizational resolve.

"You need to have a strategy and believe in it and have everybody in it, otherwise you go through some lean years and it's pretty easy to give up on your strategy, easy to take a shortcut,'' said Ricketts, a successful investment banker before he bought the Cubs. "But if you have confidence in your team and your team has confidence in each other, you can muscle through and get to the finish line.''

Asked to identify the most unsung heroes in the Cubs organization, Ricketts leaned back and looked at the ceiling for a few seconds.

He thought of Tim Cossins, the Cubs minor-league field coordinator, whose role in helping develop young prospects, especially Kyle Schwarber, has gone largely unnoticed. He mentioned Jose Serra, the Dominican Republic operations director, whose impact on players such as Jorge Soler and Castro remains profound. He praised all the anonymous scouts who contributed to the Cubs' successful draft process, guys "who don't get enough credit for seeing guys like Kyle Schwarber play nine times and arguing on his behalf.''

But the first name that came out of Ricketts' mouth isn't unknown at all.

"Crane doesn't get enough credit,'' Ricketts said of Crane Kenney, the controversial Cubs president of business operations.

Ricketts pointed out his office window at the construction equipment.

"All this stuff … the neighborhood … the building is being built, Crane's hiring great people on the business side — he has done an A-plus job,'' Ricketts said. "We came in and the very first meeting (in 2009) we said our goal was to be the very best on and off the field. I think everyone took that to heart and Crane did a good job of building and executing everything that we've had to do to support winning baseball games.''

In Ricketts' mind, two series stand out that convinced him his team had become a legitimate contender. The first came in early July against the Cardinals after Jhonny Peralta homered in the ninth inning to salvage a split, which to Ricketts felt like a turning point because of the way the Cubs competed. The second was when the Cubs swept the Giants in early August, punctuated by closer Hector Rondon striking out the side after he loaded the bases.

"If you look at our season, that was our statement series,'' Ricketts said.

The statement: The Cubs are for real.

Smiling, Ricketts struggled to recall his favorite Maddon moment. But he first sensed something special about the Cubs manager, about this Cubs season, during an April 12 conversation in Denver after a victory on the team's first trip of the year. Dexter Fowler had just hit a two-run, game-winning home run with two outs in the ninth against the Rockies, a blast significant to Ricketts because the Cubs were 0-79 in 2014 when trailing after eight innings.

"So I went to see Joe and Joe said, 'You know Dexter hit the home run but that was a team win. helped everybody stay in the game, the veterans kept everybody focused, that's how we're going to do it,' and that reminded me it's not just one guy, it's everybody,'' Ricketts said. "That's so Joe.''

A similar thought crossed Ricketts' mind one night a few months later when he approached Maddon during batting practice at Wrigley Field to say hello. Maddon had a message for the chairman.

"Joe says, 'Watch Addison Russell tonight,''' Ricketts said. "I asked why. He says, 'Well, he just has been so much more comfortable lately. He asked me if my wife and I went out to dinner last night and just seems more at ease.' ''

When Russell homered that night, Ricketts just grinned.

"Joe just kind of has this sense for players, and to have a manager who can relate to our 21-year-old shortstop as well as our 38-year-old catcher, that's just rare and it's not coachable. It's just who you are.''

Nobody enjoys seeing the Cubs electrify Wrigley Field more than Ricketts. But nobody escapes the ballpark quicker, especially after victories. Astute Cubs fans have noticed Ricketts' victory march.

Within seconds of the final out, Ricketts rises out of his seat in Section 16 adjacent to the Cubs dugout, walks briskly down the left-field line like a guy trying to beat the meter maid and sneaks out the grounds crew door for the shortcut to his office before the drive home.

"If I start walking up the ramp, it'll take forever so I try to zip out,'' Ricketts explained of his new postgame ritual this season. "I walk around four or five innings every game and talk to a lot of people, but at the end of the game, I just want to get back to the office and grab my stuff.''

Ricketts doesn't blame Chicago traffic for his quick getaways as much as the Cubs' major-league leading 13 walk-off victories.

"Truth is, the crowds are different now,'' he said. "It's harder to get out of the park when everybody stays till the end. In the past, it didn't take that long to get out of there. This year, the park's full and people are happier.''

Happiness indeed comes to those who wait. But a determined Ricketts will be the first to tell you something else: The Cubs are still waiting.

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Chicago Tribune Cubs' Jake Arrieta keeps focus on Pirates By Mark Gonzales

After earning his 22nd victory and lowering his ERA to 1.77, Jake Arrieta declined to elaborate on his amazing 2015 season or respond to a reporter’s suggestion that he might be the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award.

For Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs, Friday night’s mission was keeping Arrieta tuned up enough to be in perfect shape for his National League wild-card start against the Pirates – which most likely will be played at PNC Park on Wednesday night.

“With the circumstances the way they are, it’s not a bad move,” Arrieta said of manager Joe Maddon’s decision to pull him after only six innings and 72 pitches in a 6-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. “I would have liked to have stayed out there, but Wednesday is the most important thing for us in getting ready for that day. It’s pretty much the most important thing to everyone here. I’m fine with it.”

Arrieta has thrown 13 innings and 156 pitches in his past two starts after throwing 17 innings and 240 pitches in his previous two starts.

“Everything is where it needs to be,” Arrieta said.

The NL Cy Young Award will be announced in November, but Arrieta was more focused on beating the Pirates.

“(Winning the Cy Young Award) would be cool,” Arrieta said. “I don’t even know when that award is announced or whatever. When the season is over, we’ll think about that a little bit more. But obviously Wednesday is the most important thing for everything here, and that’s where I’m going to keep my focus for now.”

Maddon stuck with his pre-game plan to limit Arrieta’s work in preparation for Wednesday’s game.

“He wanted to pitch nine,” Maddon said. “He probably could have. He easily could have. The one thing I’ve learned with is to stick with a plan, if you really feel strong about something in advance of a moment, stay with it. Don’t alter it during the course of the game because during the course of a game you think this or that.”

First baseman Anthony Rizzo described Arrieta’s work as “unbelievable,’’ adding that opposing base runners have told him they’ve never seen stuff like Arrieta’s repertoire.

“It’s a credit to him,” Rizzo said. “He works hard and deserves everything he gets and is about to get. So now we got the biggest games of our lives coming up. We’ll be ready.”

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Chicago Tribune Once again, spring is found to be baseball's silly season By Paul Sullivan

Bryce Harper on the Nationals signing : "I was like 'Where's my ring?''

The signing of Max Scherzer to a $210 million deal sealed the deal for the Nationals.

Now it was just a matter of which AL team they would beat in the World Series.

Reporting to spring training, Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said of the signing: "I was like 'Where's my ring?' You know what I mean? It's stupid. It's absolutely stupid how good our staff is."

Indeed, it was absolutely stupid. The Nats had five aces in Scherzer, , , Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister. It may have been the best rotation, on paper, since the 2004 Cubs with , , Greg Maddux, and Matt Clement.

But like those '04 Cubs, the Nationals flopped in spectacular fashion, culminating in the made-for-YouTube dugout fight last week between Harper and closer .

Spring training quotes must always be taken with a grain of salt. Last spring, I listened to dozens of players, managers and executives talk about the season ahead. Here are some of the more memorable quotes — and how things turned out:

Commissioner Rob Manfred on the shrinking offense: "We're trying to figure out and are monitoring carefully whether we're having an aberrational drop in offense that will correct itself. Players are really talented and inventive individuals. Sometimes trends emerge, players adjust, and what you think is going to be a problem is not a problem. We're ... trying to decide whether the decline in offense is a persistent problem or an aberration that will self-correct."

Last year teams averaged 4.07 runs per game, the lowest over a full season since 1976. Entering the final weekend, the average was up slightly, to 4.26 runs per game. The major league ERA is 3.97, as opposed to 3.74 in 2014. Low- scoring games are not a problem. Modern fans are sophisticated enough to appreciate the greatness of a performance by Zack Greinke or Jake Arrieta without moaning over a lack of runs.

Tigers starter Justin Verlander on the AL Central: "The division got better, and I think it's been one of the best divisions in baseball for a while now and highly overlooked. With the moves made this winter it's getting more attention and makes it more obvious. But in my opinion we're still the team to beat."

The AL Central was a bust, with only the Royals dominating. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus drove the Tigers off a cliff but somehow kept his job. The best division is the NL Central with the three best winning percentages in the Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny on the Cubs rivalry: "There is a deep-seated hatred for Cardinals players and people in Cardinals uniforms from Cubs fans. And I imagine the Cubs people will say the same thing when they come to play us. It's been that way for a long time, and I don't think it's really any different with where the standings were or how the teams are projected."

The rivalry intensified when Cubs manager Joe Maddon alluded to Matheny as Tony Soprano and ripped the Cardinals Way after Anthony Rizzo was thrown at in a late September game at Wrigley Field. Cubs pitchers hit three batters the next day. The hate was back.

Giants starter Madison Bumgarner after a poor spring outing: "It just shows you there's no correlation. Just trying to get ready. We've seen it a lot of times — guys have terrible spring and go out and have a great season."

Bumgarner was once again one of the game's elite starters, going 18-9 with a 2.93 ERA. Spring stats are meaningless.

Yankees manager on 's return from his one-year suspension: "It's as normal as it's going to get in New York. People thought it'd be a big distraction for us. It wasn't a distraction at all. A couple days there were a few more TV trucks here and a few more media, but they dispersed. And the players know how to handle it because they've been through it year after year."

Rodriguez entered the weekend with 33 home runs and 86 RBIs, helping to lead the Yankees to a wild-card berth and their first postseason appearance since 2012. A-Rod was low key and controversy-free all season. Yankees fans quickly forgave him, and except for some booing in opposing parks, he had it easy.

Twins manager : "This game really isn't about rebuilding too much anymore. If you make the right decisions, and your farm system supplements a couple of players you can turn things around rather quickly... and it's my job to try to prod that along as best as I can. If we take care of ourselves, and that's my primary goal, and play how we can play, we're not afraid of anybody."

After going 0-3 and being outscored 22-1 in their opening series against the Tigers, the Twins turned into one of baseball's biggest surprises, contending for a wild-card spot going into the final weekend.

Yankees reliever Andrew Miller on Kris Bryant's demotion to Triple-A Iowa: "Hey, if the Cubs miss the playoffs by one game and he comes out of the gate hot and gets five home runs in Triple A instead of the big leagues, maybe Cubs fans will be mad in hindsight."

Cubs starting third basemen — , Jonathan Herrera, Arismendy Alcantara, Tommy La Stella — were a combined 3-for-19 before Bryant arrived for his major-league debut April 17th. But the Cubs went 5-3 and still made the playoffs. Now Bryant will be their property for seven years instead of six.

Would Bryant's presence have made the difference in playing the Pirates in Pittsburgh or at Wrigley Field in the wild-card game Wednesday? Does it even matter?

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Chicago Tribune 22nd sweet for Cubs' Jake Arrieta, a second half sight to behold By Paul Sullivan

Jake Arrieta makes history in his final starts, eyes Pirates in wild-card game.

If it seems as though we have been waiting for the Jake Arrieta-Gerrit Cole matchup for months now, that's probably because it's true.

Manager Joe Maddon was asked in mid-August at U.S. Cellular Field whether Arrieta would be his choice over Jon Lester for the potential wild-card game, as most Cubs fans already had decided.

"Just tell them to talk it through and give me their best advice, please," Maddon replied.

That was back when Arrieta was just a very good pitcher, not the most dominant second-half pitcher in baseball history.

Arrieta may have clinched the National League Cy Young award Friday night at Miller Park when he threw six shutout innings for his 22nd victory in a 6-1 triumph over the Brewers, his final start before Wednesday's wild-card matchup against Cole and the Pirates.

He finished the second half 12-1 with an 0.75 ERA, the lowest ever recorded after the break.

And just think, Arrieta didn't even make the All-Star team.

As for his accomplishments this season, Arrieta said after Friday's victory "we don't have time to think about it. I'm obviously confident. Everything is where it needs to be (for Wednesday)."

Arrieta and the Dodgers' Zack Greinke are neck-and-neck for the Cy Young, and the vote may come down to which statistics the Baseball Writers Association of America voters value most.

Arrieta will lead the league in victories (22), and likely will wind up tied for the lead in (229) and complete games (four). Greinke will finish first in ERA 1.68, though Arrieta's 1.77 ERA isn't too shabby either. He recorded the first sub-2.00 ERA for the Cubs since Grover Cleveland Alexander's 1.91 in 1920.

Greinke's 0.85 WHIP is a smidge better than Arrieta's 0.86, while Arrieta's opponents batting average against (.185) is a touch better than Greinke's .186.

Perhaps Arrieta's Aug. 30 no-hitter against the Dodgers will serve as the tiebreaker.

As for his Cy Young chances, Arrieta said "that would be cool," but it's something to think about when the season is over.

"Obviously Wednesday is the most important thing for everybody here, and that's where I'm going to keep my focus for now," he said.

Maddon said if Arrieta's second half doesn't "clinch" the award, he doesn't know what would.

"He has done something that has not been done before,' he said. "It's incredible to watch."

This is the time of the year when some managers back off their playoff starters to give them a breather. The Blue Jays skipped David Price's final start and will have him throw either a simulated game or bullpen session before starting Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

Like Arrieta, Price is in a heated Cy Young race in the American League, and someone asked him if he wanted the start to build his case.

"They wanted me to throw just because of personal awards and I couldn't care less about those," Price said. "So it's that point of the season where if you could get an extra couple of days, you'll take it."

Maddon said there was never any talk of skipping Arrieta's start and letting him throw a bullpen session instead. Arrieta wouldn't have it.

"You need to keep him in a routine," Maddon said. "He's a routine freak."

Arrieta said last week he's conserving his arm by taking a day off of throwing between starts.

"No reason to change anything now," he said. "At this point in the season, I'll take a day or two off of throwing during the week, and hone some things. (I'll) continue to work on flexibility and have a good side session (then) kind of shut it down and be ready for start day. This is the time of year to save some bullets."

Those bullets will be ready for the Pirates in the showdown we've been waiting for. Arrieta is 3-1 with an 0.75 ERA in five starts this year against the Pirates, including last Sunday's seven one-hit shutout innings at Wrigley Field.

"It's a chess match," Arrieta said. "They've seen what I throw. They know what I throw, but the sequences are things that I constantly change and constantly switch up so it's hard to find any pattern."

Arrieta has maintained the same demeanor throughout his record-setting stretch. One morning a couple of weeks ago, he was walking around the clubhouse wearing a onesie, just for kicks.

"Today I'm on the bus," Maddon said Friday afternoon. "And who's pulling up with his family in his vehicle to bring them into the hotel, to unload them? The car seat, the babies, whatever else he's asked to carry into the hotel at 2:35 for the 2:45 bus.

"Not many guys do that. Not many guys on the verge of 22 games do that stuff. That to me explains him. He's the same cat. He definitely hears his own beat and he knows what he's about. He knows how this all works and how it works for him."

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Chicago Tribune Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant in deadlock for Cubs' RBI title By Mark Gonzales

Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant each have 99 RBIs with two games left in the regular season.

“I wouldn’t say competitive, just messing around,” Rizzo said Friday night of the chase to finish the season with the most RBIs.

“But I told him when I got 99, ‘hey, history is shown throughout the year when any one of us catches the other, he usually gets more RBIs,’ so hopefully there’s five or six more to come.”

Bryant already has set the Cubs’ rookie franchise record of 86 held by Billy Williams in 1961 and Geovany Soto in 2008.

For Rizzo, who drove in three runs with a home run and a two-run single, he also is aiming for his first 100-RBI season.

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Chicago Tribune Cubs could go with Kyle Schwarber in right field against Pirates By Mark Gonzales

There aren't many ballparks that can contain Kyle Schwarber's power.

So to get as much impact out of their lineup as possible, the Cubs are thinking of playing the prized rookie in right field against the Pirates at PNC Park in the National League wild-card game Wednesday night.

They experimented with him in right during Friday night's 6-1 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park.

"I want to make sure he got some work out there," manager Joe Maddon said before Jake Arrieta cruised to his 22nd victory. "It's something you can see."

Schwarber, a catcher by trade who has played left field primarily since Aug. 7, took a few short steps before catching Domingo Santana's line drive for the first out of the second inning.

That was Schwarber's only fielding opportunity as Arrieta (22-6) strengthened his credentials for the NL Cy Young Award as he threw 72 pitches of two-hit ball over six innings while striking out seven.

Arrieta finished the regular season with a 1.77 ERA and 236 strikeouts in 229 innings. He became the first Cubs' qualifying pitcher to finish with a sub 2.00 ERA since Grover Cleveland Alexander posted a 1.91 ERA in 1920.

In his last 20 starts, Arrieta was 16-1 with an 0.86 ERA with 147 strikeouts, and his 0.75 ERA in the second half is a major-league record.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Arrieta's 0.41 ERA since August is the lowest earned-run average since ERA became an official statistic.

But there's plenty for Maddon and multiple Cubs decision makers to consider with a low-scoring game expected between starters Gerrit Cole of the Pirates and Arrieta in the wild-card game.

The left-handed hitting Schwarber is 1-for-5 lifetime against Cole. Kris Bryant, who started in left field for the fourth time Friday, is 3-for-9 lifetime against Cole and can cover more ground in left at PNC than Schwarber. Right field there is less spacious.

Before Friday's game, Schwarber had played only three innings in right field. But he played the eighth inning there in the first game of a doubleheader at PNC Park on Sept. 15 and said he felt comfortable, although he didn't receive any fielding chances.

"The angle (in right) is a little bit different, a different view," Schwarber said before the game. "But all I need are some reps, and we'll go from there.

"The fly balls I caught at Cincinnati (in right on Wednesday) weren't bad."

This marks the first time as manager that Maddon has had extra time to employ various combinations in preparation for a playoff game, and he continued his tinkering by starting left-handed hitter Tommy La Stella at third base.

La Stella, a second baseman by trade, charged and made bare-handed stop and throw to retire Hernan Perez in the fifth.

"The whole thing is to maximize what we were able to do at one particular moment, and I don't want to just throw guys into situations without giving them some kind of work in advance of the moment," Maddon said. "I thought it was a good time to (play Schwarber in right).

Maddon also was mindful of a potential overkill of information, especially because the Cubs have played the Pirates 19 times.

"Our game requires an open free mind to play," Maddon said. "And if you're bogging it down with stuff, it can only get in the way."

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Chicago Tribune Friday's recap: Cubs 6, Brewers 1 By Mark Gonzales

Jake Arrieta pitched six innings of two-hit ball Friday night as the Cubs coasted to a 6-1 victory over the Brewers to extend their winning streak to six games. Arrieta, who won his 22nd game, was pulled after 72 pitches in preparation for the National League wild-card game against the Pirates on Wednesday.

At the plate

Five of the first six Cubs' batters struck out against Ariel Pena. But the Cubs still managed a 10-hit attack. Addison Russell led off the third and sixth with doubles and scored twice. Anthony Rizzo hit his 31st home run and drove in three runs.

On the mound

Arrieta retired 11 consecutive batters after Scooter Gennett led off the first with a single. Arrieta was so dominant that there was only one outfield putout in his six innings. Trevor Cahill allowed a home run to Khris Davis in the seventh.

In the field

Third baseman Javier Baez bobbled a grounder in the sixth, and first baseman Rizzo sailed a throw in the seventh.

Key number

99 — Kris Bryant and Rizzo each have 99 RBIs this season.

The quote

"If that did not clinch his (Cy Young) award, I don't know what would. That had to be the clincher. Another quality start, a dominating performance." — Cubs manager Joe Maddon on Arrieta

Up next

At Brewers, 6:10 p.m. Saturday, CSN.

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Chicago Tribune Cubs reliever still has starting role on his mind By Mark Gonzales

"This winter, I'm going to work out as if I'm going to start." — Travis Wood

With a little more experience, Travis Wood could become an even better reliever than he has shown in slightly more than four months in that role with the Cubs.

That was the observation of manager Joe Maddon, who moved Wood from the rotation after an unsuccessful six weeks as a starter.

"If that's where I end up, that's where I end up," said Wood, who has a 3.05 ERA in 43 appearances with only two home runs allowed in 56 innings in relief, compared to his 5.06 ERA in nine starts with nine home runs allowed in 42 2/3 innings.

"But this winter, I'm going to work out as if I'm going to start."

Nevertheless, Wood said the move has helped the sharpness of his pitches, and he has been able to sustain his velocity in the 93 mph range.

"My velocity came back," Wood said before Friday night's game with the Brewers. "And that has helped my curve. I got back to being crisper."

Cut to the chase: Triple-A Iowa manager Marty Pevey raved about the of Carl Edwards Jr. to left- handed hitters.

"It's very much like Mariano Rivera when he first came up," Pevey said. "He throws it right at their hands."

The right-hander limited left-handed hitters to an .091 batting average in the , but he said he doesn't throw a cut fastball.

"My fastball has natural cut," Edwards said. "It's just a four-seam fastball with natural cutter movement. It's not hard to control."

Good vibrations: Maddon deflected the suggestion that the youth of the Cubs overshadows their losing past.

"Cubs history is wonderful," Maddon replied. "The tradition of being a Chicago Cub is outstanding. I'm talking about ballplayers, the ballpark and the city, and all of the lore that's attached to that. Superstition, for me, has no place in Cubs history or tradition.

"If you choose to vibrate there, that's your concern. Our guys, for me, it's about playing winning baseball every night, and that's it. I don't want them to get caught up in stuff that really doesn't matter. I want us to be more process-oriented than outcome-oriented."

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Chicago Tribune Joe Maddon grew deep roots in sharing leadership By Mark Gonzales

Joe Maddon quickly admits the situation he inherited with the Chicago Cubs was less difficult than when he took over a struggling Tampa Bay Rays franchise in 2006.

But some of the policies and decisions that Maddon made with the Rays have been applied to a harmonious Cubs team because Maddon has let veterans police the younger players.

“There were tough conversations the first two years with guys who really weren’t very good major league players who thought they were,” Maddon said of his early years with the Rays. “Wow. That was really delusional stuff that you had to deal with behind closed doors. It was bizarre.

“I came from a very good situation in Anaheim (as a bench coach), and to deal with that the first 1 ½ years?"

Maddon said the culture started to transform more positively when the Rays acquired reliever Dan Wheeler in a trade with the for Ty Wigginton, whom Maddon liked.

“The bullpen would give it up, but Danny gave form to that bullpen,” Maddon said. “And once he did, they started to follow his lead – purely his work ethic, and suddenly they became better. Now you’re starting to finish games, and when you start to finish games, everything you did before to finish games, it was a good move, good lineup.

“When you lose that game, everything you did before that is wrong. Danny was a really big part of changing that culture down there.”

There are comparisons to the 2008 Rays team that won the American League because of veterans like , Troy Percival, and Wheeler that police the clubhouse in the same way that Cubs veterans David Ross, Jake Arrieta, Chris Coghlan and have helped the younger players.

Maddon admits his success with the Rays has helped him get his point across much easier.

“I’m sure they were questioning me a lot more behind my back then maybe they do now,” Maddon said. “That’s part of what a manager has to go through. Players form their groups or meetings after meetings by the water cooler or food room. That’s the group is going to try to find that other guy who supports his theory of being kind of screwed. And if you can’t find an ally, that’s the beautiful part of it. When you have a tightly knit group, the guy who is messing things up - looking for allies - is not going to find one.

"Therein lies when the fans are looking for a definition as to why I talk about letting the players handle it, why the clubhouse is so important, why you have to have leadership within the clubhouse, its’ because when you do, these little pockets looking for allies in a negative sense, they get blown up immediately by the guys. I’m pretty sure we have that now where that negative component cannot prosper because the guys in the clubhouse get it.”

Maddon feels good about his clubhouse but said the message has to be nurtured annually, with the younger players carrying the message and become veteran leaders to “teach the Cubs’ way we want to do things here.”

Maddon was adamant about staying consistent in his message.

“Just being a positive person by nature, I was accused of being too positive, which I really find hysterical. But that was the biggest rap, publicly, that some people thought I was too positive, I can live with that.”

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Chicago Tribune Theo Epstein's Cubs journey isn't over — but it has been wild ride so far By Paul Sullivan

It has been nearly four years since Theo Epstein was spotted at a Lincoln Park Starbucks, stoking the rumor he was about to leave Boston to become the Cubs general manager.

Wearing a Diablos baseball cap and jeans and masquerading as a local, Epstein tried to play it cool when Cubs fan Noah Pinzur recognized him as he waited in line to buy a banana and an iced drink.

"Excuse me, are you Theo Epstein?" Pinzur asked.

"No," Epstein replied. "I get that a lot."

After a pause, Epstein asked Pinzur: "Who is Theo Epstein?"

Less than a week later, Epstein was hired as the Cubs' president of baseball operations, and began the task of tearing down and rebuilding the organization to his own specifications.

Now the architect of the Cubs' rebuild is getting ready to watch his team get its first taste of October madness, with a wild-card playoff game Wednesday night against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

No matter what happens, Epstein admits this already has been one of the most gratifying years of his life.

"This whole season has been like a beautiful baseball dream," he said. "It really has."

So who is Theo Epstein, and how did he get here?

It's a long story, but it all comes down to one thing: The casket.

He started out at as a summer intern with the Orioles, worked his way up from the media relations department to the front office with the Padres, got a lucky break and ran with it with as a 28-year-old Red Sox general manager and seemed to be set for life after winning a pair of World Series rings running his hometown team.

But Epstein never thought he would end his career in Boston.

"I didn't want my life to be defined by my job," he said. "I used to joke around with my friends — 'I don't want to be buried in a casket with a Red Sox logo on it.' I wanted …"

A casket with a Cubs' logo on it?

"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "Actually I wanted to experience more things, and life is richer than just your professional experience. And as I got closer to what would end up being 10 years in Boston, I realized this wasn't good for me or the organization, to stay in one place forever.

"I said it at the time, I think this starts to become a powerful inertia at play. It's hard if you're there for 10 years."

'A real long shot'

The idea was never to become president of the Cubs, of course. When he began applying for summer baseball jobs while attending Yale University, Epstein just wanted to be part of a baseball operation.

Orioles President and CEO Larry Lucchino gave him a shot with a summer job in 1992, and brought him back the next two summers. When Lucchino left to take on the same role with the Padres in '95, he hired Epstein, who also was attending law school at the University of San Diego, in the media relations department.

Cubs head of scouting Jason McLeod, whom Epstein calls his "adopted brother," was a low-level staffer in the Padres' stadium operations department when the two met in '95. Padres GM Kevin Towers let them sit in on meetings, and the two 20-somethings watched and learned.

"We were very fortunate Kevin allowed us an opportunity to be involved in all those meetings," McLeod said. "We used to sit around and talk about front offices and how we'd try to run things. He'd say, 'If I was a general manager, I'd do this,' and I'd say 'If I was scouting director, I'd think more along these lines.' There was a lot of dialogue like that."

Epstein soon was promoted to a role as a baseball operations assistant under Towers. McLeod joined the department as well, starting a lifelong friendship that would result in Epstein bringing him to Boston, and then the Cubs, to serve as his right-hand man in scouting and development.

Even when Epstein became the Padres' director of baseball operations, he still couldn't envision running his own team. Former players typically filled general manager jobs, not Ivy League punks.

"It wasn't on the radar," Epstein said. "Even working in baseball operations seemed like a real long shot. But I had some people who believed in me, and whom I'm real grateful to, and had some great mentorship.

"It was lot of good timing and lucky breaks, and was able to work my way into a position where I could be part of a group that helped make decisions in San Diego, really my formative years in baseball."

When Lucchino went to Boston as part of the Red Sox ownership group, he hired Epstein as an assistant GM in March 2002.

Epstein had grown up reading the "Bill James Baseball Abstract," which put in a new light. Epstein already had an analytical bent when he got to Boston, and decided to use that way of thinking to find a better way of evaluating players.

"I never thought I'd do it differently than anyone else," he said.

Towers, , Brad Sloan and other Padres executives with scouting backgrounds showed Epstein the importance of scouting, while James' books gave him the impetus to combine both methodologies.

"By learning about scouting from those guys and trying to think about the game from an analytical perspective as well, my conclusion was that the answer lied somewhere in the middle, that the best decisions we could make maybe made more sense from both standpoints," he said.

"It was a metaphor there because my desk in San Diego was between the scouting director and the statistical analyst, physically, as well as figuratively. That's how my way of looking at the game evolved."

In Boston, Epstein befriended young intern , his other "adopted brother" who was hired a week or so before him. The two shared the same interests, and were running buddies at night.

"We were two kids who just grew up obsessed with baseball and we hit it off right away," Hoyer said. "One of the things about Theo, he's certainly able to talk about a lot of things in life, but he's also just a guy who loves the game, loves talking about baseball, loves working on it.

"That's the attitude and intensity you need in these jobs, because it's 100 percent baseball all the time. He really lives and breathes it."

'Something to offer'

After A's GM accepted and then changed his mind about taking the Red Sox general manager's job, Epstein was given an opportunity to live out his dream, becoming the youngest GM in baseball in 2002 at 28.

He was excited about the decision-making part, but not sure he could handle the other responsibilities that go along with it.

"I certainly wasn't the most experienced or the most deserving," he said. "But I had put in some good time in the game and I felt like I had something to offer.

"I had spent a season in the organization already, so I knew who was good, who I could trust, who I can lean on. I felt like I knew exactly what direction we needed to go as an organization.

"There were still a lot of obvious competitive advantages out there on the baseball landscape in 2002. It was a little easier landscape to navigate through back then than it is now that we have so much information out there. I felt excited about the baseball side (but) had some anxiety about what it would mean for me personally.

"I was 28. I was pretty emotionally immature and it represented a sudden change of lifestyle I wasn't sure I was ready for. Going from complete anonymity, and being a pretty young 28, and then all of sudden managing people?

"I had never managed people much. It was a big change. I certainly relished my anonymity. In Boston, you're such a public figure if you're GM of the Red Sox. It was a big change. I was worried about how I would handle it emotionally. But that's not an opportunity you think twice about accepting, and then you just move forward.

"I made plenty of mistakes, but I adjusted. I had to grow up quickly."

During that first winter, Epstein made some relatively small but significant moves, signing , and , adding offense and personality to the '03 team.

The Red Sox ultimately lost to the Yankees on Aaron Boone's walk-off home run in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. After that loss, Epstein fired manager Grady Little and replaced him with .

Over the winter he brought in stars like and and then watched the team jell together.

The players called themselves "The Idiots," and they ended the team's notorious 86-year championship drought with a sweep of the Cardinals in the .

Suddenly, Epstein was king for life.

But the Red Sox success bred animosity between Epstein and his mentor, Lucchino.

Epstein briefly quit his job after the 2005 season when he famously donned a gorilla suit to make an escape from the media camped out at Fenway Park. He returned after a short hiatus and when the Red Sox won their second championship in 2007, Epstein was so popular in Boston the idea of him leaving was heresy.

In early September 2011, Epstein blew off rumors of leaving for the Cubs, where GM Jim Hendry had been fired. Then the Red Sox pulled off an epic collapse to blow a postseason spot, and the Cubs came calling.

Epstein came to Chicago to talk contract with Chairman Tom Ricketts the day he was spotted at the Starbucks. Instead of becoming the Cubs' GM however, he was offered the title of president of baseball operations, reporting only to Ricketts.

Despite the additional power and money, Epstein wasn't completely sold at first.

"I had mixed feelings," he admitted. "People I relied upon for advice sort of had mixed feelings about it, too. It was hard to leave. The biggest factor was my family."

Epstein met his wife, Marie Whitney, in 2002 when she was a graduate student at Harvard and volunteering for work with the homeless. The two traveled to South America together in '05 during his brief hiatus from the Red Sox, and got married in 2007.

Epstein came from a prominent, tight-knit family. Theo's grandfather, Phillip Epstein, and great-uncle, Julius Epstein, had won Oscars for writing the screenplay to "Casablanca." Theo's father, Leslie Epstein, a novelist and director of the creative writing program at Boston University, inherited one of the Oscars and once put it on his mantle next to the 2004 World Series trophy.

Marie knew how much her husband wanted to take on the challenge in Chicago and agreed it was the best decision, even if it meant the grandparents would be separated from 4-year-old Jack, the first of the their two sons.

"That was the biggest hurdle for us to overcome in leaving," Epstein said. "But ultimately my family realized I'd be happier taking on a new challenge even though it was tougher geographically. I really appreciated that, especially my wife."

Plan takes time

Once the decision was made and he came to Chicago, Epstein quickly laid out his game plan to build from the bottom up and asked Cubs fans for patience. That was easier said than done, especially when the Cubs lost 101 games in 2012 and 96 in '13. One newspaper had photo-shopped a picture of Epstein to make him look like he was walking on water when he arrived, but now the "genius" label was being used as a pejorative.

Some fans wondered whether Epstein was just a media creation who finally had met his match with the luckless Cubs. Epstein said he dealt with the criticism by listening to NPR instead of sports talk radio.

"I know there was some loud protest about the path we chose," Epstein said. "But I'd say the vast majority of fans were really supportive, were willing to wait a little bit longer to do it the right way.

"They gave the organization their support, patience, and continued to spend their money on the team. And they continued to say nice things when we'd pass them in the street."

Epstein fired manager after the 96-loss season in '13, essentially for his "tough love" approach to struggling young players Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo, two of the Cubs upcoming core.

Rick Renteria was brought in without any major league managing experience and was dubbed "Ricky Sunshine" for his endless cliches about "chipping away."

Under Renteria, the Cubs started to show signs of life in the second half of 2014, while top prospects Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler were proving they were close to being ready.

But when the Rays' Joe Maddon became available after the season, the Cubs bounced Renteria and hired the more proven and charismatic manager to replace him.

Why did it take so many managers to get the right one?

"It was a process," Epstein said. "I was talking with Dale about this (last week). I told him we wouldn't be where we are as an organization without his contributions, and I firmly believe that. He brought toughness and edge and some great people with him, and he helped keep us on track through some really difficult times. Not a lot of talent to work with at the time.

"With Ricky, he helped create an environment that helped Castro and Rizzo to bounce back in 2014. And then Joe becoming available was a unique opportunity that we just really had to jump on.

"That was a really tough decision, and tough on me personally. As I said in the statement at the time, we really had a moral dilemma. We have to choose between being loyal to Ricky, who had done a good job, and being loyal to the organization, because Joe was so obviously the right person … for where we were headed next, and he has proven it. All my experience was telling me we had to do it."

Renteria has not responded publicly to the firing.

Epstein said they tried to "handle it as professionally" as they could.

"There are casualties along the way," he said. "… It has not always been the easiest journey. I think of Dale and I think of Ricky when we're pouring champagne, like we were (last Saturday). Both guys played a big part in getting us where we are."

Things moving fast

Maddon brought giant speakers to the practice fields in Mesa, Ariz., and blasted music during monotonous spring training drills, the first sign things would be different.

Bryant and Russell arrived in early April of this year, and the Cubs were a pleasant surprise with a winning record at the All-Star break. Then everything moved to warp-speed. The Cubs got on a roll in August, clinched their first postseason spot since 2008 last week and likely will wind up with the third-best record in the majors.

The memorable regular season ends Sunday in Milwaukee, before the next chapter begins Wednesday in the wild- card game.

Whether the wild ride ends next week or not, the Cubs have made it clear they're here to stay. But for now, they have to learn to deal with the pressure of October baseball, knowing well that many Cubs teams in the past have folded in the postseason spotlight.

Epstein's five-year contract with the Cubs ends after next season. Ricketts said last week they will talk about an extension soon, probably after the season.

Epstein says he's in no hurry, knowing he plans to stay a while.

"I don't see myself leaving here until we win a World Series, at least," he said.

But what if the Cubs actually do win a World Series?

What else left would Epstein have to accomplish?

"Maybe that would be the appropriate time to take a step back and reflect," he said. "Seriously, there's not a lot of time for that now.

"Now we've gotten to our first October and we're full speed ahead trying to win a World Series. Boston was a dash for a decade to try to win as much as we could. There will be a moment, hopefully after a couple of World Series, where we'll sit back and reflect and figure out what's next in life.

"But right now I couldn't be happier. … And now we've finally gotten to make our fans happy, at least for the moment. That's a great feeling."

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