Now that the Chicago Cubs know their National League wild-card opponent is coming to Wrigley Field on Tuesday, they can focus on finishing up their regular season with a three-game sweep of the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
The Cubs (91-70) beat the Cardinals 7-3 on Saturday afternoon to clinch home-field advantage against the San Diego Padres beginning on Tuesday.
The power hitters for Chicago showed their strength in the second game of the series. Michael Busch blasted two home runs to give him 34 on the season, and Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong each hit their 31st home runs of the season.
Busch, Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong are just the second trio to hit at least 30 home runs in a season for the Cubs.
“Those are the guys I go to work with every day,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Michael’s trajectory this season has been really cool. It’s just been this steady, uphill, head-of-steam climb for him. He’s only gotten better. Seiya and I, I think it’s been a lot of perseverance.”
Crow-Armstrong is also just the second Chicago player to blast at least 30 home runs and steal at least 30 bases in a season, joining Sammy Sosa in 1993 and 1995.
“Getting to share that with them is the most rewarding thing about that,” Crow-Armstrong said of Busch and Suzuki.
The Cubs announced on Saturday that rookie right-hander Cade Horton was placed on the 15-day injured list with a fractured right rib, which will make him unavailable for the wild-card series against the Padres.
Horton is not sure when he sustained the fracture, but it’s affected his mechanics.
“It’s a shame,” said Jed Hoyer, the team’s president of baseball operations during the telecast on Saturday. “When he threw (on Saturday), it was clear there was no way to pitch without changing mechanics.”
Horton has established himself as an NL Rookie of the Year candidate by posting an 11-4 mark and 2.67 ERA in 22 starts this season, including an 8-1 record and 1.03 ERA since the All-Star break.
The Cardinals hope to end another disappointing season on a high note after dropping their past three games.
St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado said earlier this week that he likely won’t be returning to the Cardinals next season, but first baseman Willson Contreras told reporters on Saturday that he’d like to return for a fourth season with the club, which is expected to undergo some major changes to its personnel.
“As of right now, I would just like to be part of the process,” Contreras said. “They’re going to need to have some kind of experience around them, and that’s what I expressed.”
The Cardinals (78-83) are planning a bullpen game for their season finale, and Kyle Leahy has been tabbed to make his first MLB start after 97 relief appearances.
Leahy (4-2, 3.18 ERA) last pitched on Wednesday, throwing an inning of shutout relief in a 4-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Leahy has made eight relief appearances against the Cubs in his career and is 0-0 with a 4.66 ERA in those games.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters Saturday the “most likely” starter for Sunday’s game is Javier Assad, who is 3-1 with a 4.26 ERA in seven games (six starts) this season. He last pitched Sept. 20, giving up two earned runs on three hits, two walks and two strikeouts in four innings of an eventual 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.