North Side Report by Martin Flowers
Well Cubs fans, we have entered the final month of the season and the Cubs find themselves 6.5 games back of the Brewers. Cubs have won the season series with the Brewers winning 7 out of the 12 games. Cubs have continued to slump a bit with injuries to the pitching staff like Jameison Taehn and Justin Steele being out for the better part of the season. Javier Asayad, who was the Cubs middle reliver and sixth starter has gone down as well. Cubs’ offense has slumped a little since the All-Star Break with Kyle Tucker and Pete Crowe Armstrong struggling since the Break. Cubs have seen others begin to pinch in like Michale Busch, Seyla Suski, and Ian Happ. Dansby Swanson has been streaky but is having a solid season. With 25 games left the Cubs are in position to make the post season as a Wild Card. With 78 wins heading into the final month of the season, the Cubs have had a great year. The Brewers went on a hot streak, winning 12 games in a row and have yet to slow up. There is still a lot of baseball to be played so let’s talk about the week ahead.

Cubs will be facing the Braves and Nationals if the Cubs can win 4 out of the six games the Cubs could pick up at least 2 games on the Brewers. With the roster also about to expand the Cubs do have a lot of talent in the minors that they can bring up and slump, getting some of the Veterans days off and getting them ready for post season. So, the keys to the pennant race as we head down to the wire continue getting strong innings from the starters and pushing them to the 6th inning. Cubs do not have a great bullpen but do have one of the better defensive units in the Majors So with some luck we may be able to catch the Brewers but lets focus on long term and build the opportunity for a long post season Run.