Chicago Cubs magic number after PCA’s first start

The Chicago Cubs are actually a really good baseball team. They might not quite be a World Series contender yet but they are on their way.

If Pete Crow-Armstrong, who made his MLB debut this week, turns out to be a star, they will be even better in the long haul.

On Monday, he made his debut as a pinch runner but he actually got to start for the first time on Tuesday. He collected his first career RBI and made some amazing plays in centerfield.

With all of that, the Cubs still lost to the Colorado Rockies on the road. They are still safely in a playoff spot.

The Chicago Cubs are in a very good spot with a couple of weeks left in 2023.

They trail the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central by 4.0 games. It is still possible to come back from that but they are running out of time.

A Wild Card berth is much more likely. They are currently in the second of three Wild Card spots. They are 1.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies for the first spot.

They are 2.0 games clear of the Arizona Diamondbacks of the third Wild Card spot and 3.0 games clear of the Cincinnati Reds for being a playoff team entirely. The math is strongly in their favor with just a couple of more weeks left.

What is their magic number? Well, following PCA’s debut, they head into the series finale with the Rockies with a magic number of 14.

That means any combination of 14 wins by the Cubs and losses by the first team out would clinch their postseason berth.

This is going to happen for the Cubs. After being well under .500 in early July with seemingly no chance at the playoffs, they have come all the way back. Now, they are in a great spot.

They still need to play well the rest of the way to make sure they feel good going into the playoffs but it seems as if they will.