Earlier this week I asked you which team you’d rather the Cubs face if they are the top wild-card team.
I’ll get to that, but first I want to share with you the results of this question, asked to all SB Nation Reacts survey members: Who will win the National League Rookie of the Year award?
A plurality of voters chose Cubs right-hander Cade Horton.
Horton, who will start for the Cubs tonight against the Rockies at Coors Field, has had a terrific run over the last couple of months. At one point he had a scoreless-inning
streak of 23.1 innings, setting a record for a Cubs rookie, and in nine starts since the beginning of July he has posted a 1.11 ERA and 0.904 WHIP, with 44 strikeouts in 48.2 innings and just two home runs allowed.
Oddly enough, Horton’s good season so far has resulted in just 1.0 bWAR (1.5 fWAR). Still, he has helped solidify the Cubs rotation and would certainly be one of the three starters scheduled for a wild-card series.
Speaking of which, you had a clear preference for who you’d rather see the Cubs face in such a series:
I concur with this. The Cubs won the season series from the Dodgers four games to three, and after losing the two games to them in March in Tokyo, won four of five, including two of three at Dodger Stadium. This might give the Cubs an advantage if they have to play the games in Los Angeles.
The Cubs split their season series with the Padres, so the next tiebreaker is the record within the team’s own division. At this writing the Cubs are 24-16 vs. NL Central teams with 10 games remaining (three at Pirates, four at Reds, three vs. Cardinals at Wrigley Field). The Padres have an identical 24-16 record within the NL West with 10 games remaining (three at Rockies, four vs. Rockies at San Diego, three vs. Diamondbacks at San Dieg0). The Padres might seem to have the advantage with seven games vs. Colorado, but the Rockies have played better since the Padres went 5-1 against them in April and May.
As always, we await developments.
The other national questions asked in the SB Nation survey had to do with American League award winners:
This edition of the SB Nation Reacts survey is sponsored by FanDuel.
