Chicago Cubs: One game will decide it all

The Chicago Cubs will take on the Milwaukee Brewers Monday at Wrigley Field to decide the National League Central.

You have any plans tomorrow afternoon? If not, you may want to tune into your television sets at 1:05 EST as the Chicago Cubs will take on the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field to decide who will win the National League Central. The loser will be relegated to a one-game playoff against the loser of the Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers matchup tomorrow at 4:09 EST.

For the Cubs, 162 games weren’t enough to get it done. Despite having the National League’s best record for a large portion of the season, the red-hot Brewers caught them. Perhaps it was playing 30 games in 30 days — or perhaps it was their inability to hit a bull’s arse with a shovel. In any event, it will be no consolation should their season in a one-game playoff to the Dodgers or Rockies.

So how do they avoid that fate? Well, the simplest way is to win on Monday. So what does that matchup look like? We take a look.

Monday, October 1 at 1:05 PM EST (TBD vs Jose Quintana)

The Cubs will send up and down starter Jose Quintana to the mound who will look to finish the season on a high note. Quintana will forever be compared to Chicago White Sox young slugger, Eloy Jimenez whom he was traded for last year.

While Jimenez mashed at every minor league level this year, Quintana wallowed in mediocrity. While he hasn’t come close to living up to expectations so far, he could go a long way in erasing Cubs fans’ frustrations with his performance by delivering a solid outing Monday.

That will be a tall order, as the Brewers have won seven in a row and 9 of 10 overall. The main reason for their success has been their outfielder and MVP candidate, Christian Yelich.

Yelich and Javier Baez are the two front-runners for the award, with Yelich making a late surge to perhaps become the favorite. He’s hitting .326, with 36 HRs and 109 RBI which rank first, second and second respectively in the National League. Obviously stopping Yelich will be priority number one for Quintana.

The Brewers starter, as of now, is TBD — who I hear has a wicked slider and can paint the corners with high 90s stuff. All kidding aside, the Brewers have not announced their starter and there is no telling who it could be.

Manager Craig Counsel has options. He could choose to go with Chase Anderson, or have Jhoulys Chacin, pitch a day early. They could even use an all hands on deck approach and kick things off with an arm out of the bullpen.

Whoever takes the mound will have to contend with the Cubs own MVP candidate in Baez. Though, the Cubs’ bats have been extremely quiet lately. If they have any desire to make a run in this postseason, they must win this game.

Having to play a one-game Wild Card game after this would significantly deplete their rotation, and tax an already exhausted team. I just don’t see how they could make a run after that. While this game is exciting for fans, it’s the last place in the world the Cubs want to be.