Cubs, Rockies meet for NL wild card after losses

CHICAGO – Manager Joe Maddon and the Chicago Cubs insist they still have plenty left to make another deep run in the postseason.

What they don’t have is room for error.

The Cubs will host the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card game on Tuesday after both teams lost tiebreaker games for their division championships.

“We’re not dead in the water,” Maddon said.

The Cubs will send ace Jon Lester (18-6, 3.32 ERA) to the mound, hoping to keep their season going after a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee for the NL Central championship at Wrigley Field on Monday.

They’ll be back at the old ballpark again, trying to eliminate Colorado after the Rockies dropped a tiebreaker for the NL West to the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2. Kyle Freeland (17-7, 2.85) starts for the Rockies, and the winner gets Milwaukee in the best-of-five Division Series starting Thursday at Miller Park.

Colorado and the Cubs split six games this year, each scoring 33 runs.

NL home run champion Nolan Arenado and the Rockies (91-72) had won nine of 10 before getting shut down by rookie Walker Buehler in a 5-2 loss on Monday. Colorado has never won its division.

The Cubs (95-68) reached the playoffs for a franchise-record fourth straight year and had a third consecutive division championship in sight, only to be pushed aside by the surging Brewers.