On Friday, Aug. 15, the Cubs dropped the opener of a three-game series to the Pirates 3-2. That evening, the Brewers overcame an 8-1 second-inning deficit and beat the Reds 10-8. It was the 13th victory in Milwaukee’s eventual 14-game winning streak and put them nine games ahead of the Cubs in the NL Central.
Ten days later, the Cubs are on an 8-2 run and over that span the Brewers are 4-6. Thus the Cubs have cut four games off that nine-game lead in a 10-game span and trail Milwaukee by five with
31 games remaining for both teams.
Can that deficit be overcome? Of course it can; teams have blown bigger leads with less time left in the season. Will it be easy? No. Is it possible? Absolutely, positively so.
Here are the remaining schedules for both teams, listed in chronological order, with home games in boldface.
Cubs (15 home, 16 road)
at Giants (3), at Rockies (3), Braves (3), Nationals (3), at Braves (3), Rays (3), at Pirates (3), at Reds (4), Mets (3), Cardinals (3)
Brewers (16 home, 15 road)
Diamondbacks (4), at Blue Jays (3), Phillies (3), at Pirates (3), at Rangers (3), Cardinals (3), Angels (3), at Cardinals (3), at Padres (3), Reds (3)
As you know, the Cubs and Brewers don’t play each other again, which will make it more difficult to catch up. The Cubs will have to keep winning and get help. On the other hand, when the Cubs took three of five from Milwaukee last week at Wrigley Field they won the season series seven games to six, and thus the tiebreaker if the teams wind up tied for the NL Central title. That’s one little bonus.
The other side of this proverbial coin is that, per Tankathon, the Cubs have the second-easiest remaining schedule of any of the 30 teams. Cubs opponents in those 31 games have a combined winning percentage of .456. Only the Padres (.448) have an easier schedule. The Cubs have just seven games remaining against teams currently over .500 — four against the Reds at Cincinnati, three against the Mets at Wrigley Field.
Meanwhile, Brewers opponents have a combined winning percentage of .511, tied for the 10th most difficult schedule. The Brewers have back-to-back series against first-place teams coming up (Blue Jays and Phillies) and will also face the Rangers and Reds, who are vying to stay in wild-card races. They’ll also face the Padres in the season’s final week in San Diego, and the Padres and Dodgers seem likely to still be battling for the NL West title at that point in the season.
The Cubs, of course, will likely take a wild-card spot, and possibly the top such spot, if they don’t come back and win the NL Central. But a comeback to win the NL Central title is still quite possible. Wouldn’t that be a great way to end the regular season?
