Major League Baseball determined final yr to finish the custom of Game 163 tiebreaker video games when it added a 3rd wild-card workforce in every league.
But this season may give us Game 162 1/2 — or maybe Game 162 1/9 — due to the suspended recreation Thursday evening in New York between the Mets and Miami Marlins.
The Chicago Cubs wakened Friday to the information they may have to attend till Monday to seek out out their postseason destiny.
In a season as loopy as this, the opportunity of additional time looks like the right ending for a Cubs workforce that has gone from 10 video games below .500 to playoff contender to doubtlessly collapsing with 13 losses in 19 video games down the stretch.
The Marlins had simply taken a 2-1 lead over the Mets within the ninth inning when rain halted the sport, ultimately ensuing within the suspension. They scored the go-ahead runs off reliever Anthony Kay, whom the Cubs designated for project earlier this month and the Mets claimed off waivers.
The Marlins gained a half-game on the Cubs for the third wild-card spot heading into the ultimate weekend due to the Cubs’ loss to the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins can clinch the spot in the event that they keep that lead after Sunday’s video games as a result of they maintain the tiebreaker in opposition to the Cubs by profitable the season sequence.
But if the Cubs are up by a half-game after Sunday, the Marlins must fly to New York to complete the ultimate inning — or longer if the Mets pressure further innings. That would put the Cubs season on maintain and make director of workforce journey Vijay Tekchandani’s life much more hectic than standard.
The Cubs may keep in Milwaukee, the place they finish the common season and the place they’d begin the postseason Tuesday in the event that they get in. Or they might return to Chicago and await their destiny at residence, then return by bus if the Marlins blow the lead within the resumption of the suspended recreation, thus handing the Cubs the third wild-card spot.
Instead of a clinching celebration within the clubhouse, the Cubs may have one on the bus on the journey again up Interstate 94.
Adding to the enjoyable is the actual fact the Marlins play three video games in Pittsburgh in opposition to a Pirates membership that Cubs supervisor David Ross just lately stated is “not a good team,” creating an argument that Ross later apologized for in a textual content to Pirates supervisor Derek Shelton.
While Ross might need been appropriate in his evaluation, it was an announcement made within the warmth of the second after a troublesome loss that he definitely would relatively have again.
How motivated will the Pirates be to assist the Cubs get into the postseason?
We’ll discover out. They already scratched their greatest starter, Mitch Keller, for Sunday’s season finale.
Either method it figures to be a wierd remaining weekend in Milwaukee in a ballpark many Cubs followers name their second residence.
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