What The Chicago Cubs Need To Do To Make The Playoffs

Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

3. The Defense Must Play Better 

Pitching and defense are critical for teams to win in the postseason. The Cubs have fairly good pitching, but their defense is suspect.

The Cubs have committed 91 errors so far this season, ranking them 25th in MLB. That will not get the job done in September or October.

The defense let the Cubs down on Wednesday. The Cubs battled back, coming from behind to tie the game against the Cincinnati Reds, only to have an error allow noted Cubs killer Joey Votto to come to the plate and blast a three-run home run to beat the Cubs.

The loss cost the Cubs the series against a bad team. That cannot continue to happen. The Cubs need to beat up on the low-tier teams now more than ever. Over the next several weeks, they play the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the only two teams ahead of the Cubs in the National League, TWELVE times. They also have a game against the Kansas City Royals, the top team in the American League, thrown in.

Those will be tough games, so if they have a chance to beat up against losing teams, they need to take advantage of it.

Kicking the ball around will not help in getting that done.

Before the Cubs acquired Austin Jackson, they suffered in the big outfields in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Having him there greatly helps.

The other problem is Starlin Castro.

Castro looks to be waking up at the plate. After hitting in the .230’s for most of the season, he is hitting .314 in his last 19 games.

Defensively, however, he is regressing. In his last two games on the field, Castro committed FOUR errors. Ironically, he was charged with an error in Arrieta’s no-hitter that could have easily been called a hit. With Castro’s reputation as a defender, no one blinked when the error was called.

With the type of hitter Castro is, you want to put him in, but his defense could cost the Cubs crucial games.

Javier Baez is back, so he could help out at second. The job as starter is available for the taking. If Baez could hit like he did on Friday (3-for-4 with a home run), he could take the full-time second baseman’s spot.

The Cubs’ defense needs to improve for continues success. As the season winds down to the end, the games become bigger. Their defensive play needs to be big as well.

Next: 4. Cubs' Leaders Must Continue To Help The Kids