Dodgers, Cubs hope to avoid Wild Card
Bob Nightengale: Rockies, Brewers creating chaos in NL pennant races
PHOENIX – The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, who have dominated the National League landscape the past five years, believed all season they were destined to play one another for the third consecutive postseason.
Little did they know they might be meeting a whole lot sooner than anyone could have envisioned.
Can you believe a winner-take-all wild-card game?
The Cubs and Dodgers, the two most powerful NL teams with the two largest payrolls, playing in two of the three big- gest markets in the U.S., and one could be eliminated within the first 24 hours of the postseason.
“Oh, my gosh,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in the late hours from his office. “Oh my gosh.”
Roberts shook his head, shut his eyes, ripped his lineup card in half and dumped it in a trash can off to the side of his desk.
“It’s possible, right?” he softly said. “Wow.”
Indeed, just when you thought the playoff races were over, the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers are providing us chaos, pulling within a half-game of the Dodgers and Cubs in their respective divisions.
“You don’t expect them to go away,” Roberts said. “In a perfect world, may- be, but you can’t expect those guys to lay down. They’re not going to go down without a fight.”
It’s entirely possible the NL could become absolute bedlam, with two tiebreakers in the same season for the first time in baseball history.
Not only could the Dodgers and Rockies be playing Game 163 on Monday in Los Angeles for the right to win the NL West, with the Cubs and Brewers playing Monday in Chicago for the right to win the NL Central, but there could be a four-way tie also involving the St. Louis Cardinals.
The loser of the Rockies-Dodgers could play the Cardinals in St. Louis on Tuesday, with that winner playing
Wednesday against the loser of the Cubs-Brewers in the wild-card game, with that winner playing Thursday in Atlanta against the Brave in Game 1 of the NL Division Series.
“Wow, I haven’t even thought about it,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters Tuesday night. “You’re trying to not be put in that position. I hope we avoid that.”
The Rockies, given their last rites a week ago after being swept by the Dodgers, entered Wednesday night controlling their fate, pulling into a tie with the Dodgers in the loss column.
The Cubs, who decided to delay any clinching celebration until they won the NL Central, now are wondering if perhaps they better have at least a tame party in case the Brewers don’t go away.
“It’s definitely not stressful,” Roberts said, “I mean, it’s definitely fun. This is what you live for. You live for every game being important. Fans get into it. Our players get into it. The best team playing the best is going to continue to go forward.”
Well, if this is fun, the Dodgers sure have a difficult time expressing it, speaking in hushed tones in front of their lockers after losing Tuesday night to the Arizona Diamondbacks, knowing the Rockies have won five consecutive games since they last saw them.
“We’re human, we’re baseball players, it happens,” Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez said. “We know the Rockies have a great team. They’re hot.”
It’s no different than in Chicago. The Cubs thought the Brewers were gone for good, only for them to pick up two games in 24 hours, with the Cubs losing back-to-back games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“We have the best record in the National League, but we haven’t clinched yet,” Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward said Tuesday night. “That shows you how good our division is. That shows you how good this league is. I feel like it’s time to pay respect to how good these other teams have been playing.”
The Brewers are hot, winning 15 of 22 games in September.
The Rockies are rolling with five consecutive victories.
Suddenly, being in first place never felt so vulnerable for the Cubs and Dodgers.
“It speaks to the parity of baseball,” Roberts said. “It’s good for the game to go to the last weekend where every game is impactful.”