This past weekend, the Chicago Cubs took two of three from the Miami Marlins. However, they could not reach their goal of returning to being a .500 team. Now, they’ll face what may be a murderer’s row of young, talented pitchers in Pittsburgh.
Pete Crow-Armstrong sped around the bases on Friday, while Seiya Suzuki and Shōta Imanaga made history on Saturday to give the Cubs a series win. But the offense used up all their powers, and the team came out flat with a loss on Sunday. Now, they’ll head to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates, still under .500 by one game.
One thing that has haunted the Cubs for most of 2024 is the inability to build momentum and feed off the previous night’s successes. When steps were taken forward, more accumulated backward thereafter. It’s been the trend of the year that has kept this team short of meeting expectations.
However, as the calendar turns to the season’s final month, it’s go-time. The Cubs may be out of contention in the division (10.5 back), but they’re still hanging by a thread in the race for the final Wild Card berth. They sit 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for that spot.
This week, the Cubs will travel to Pittsburgh for three games against the Pirates before heading to our nation’s capital for three against the Nationals. But the Cubs cannot be looking past the Pirates. They are throwing the kitchen sink at the Cubs during their visit.
Pirates Have Top-Three Arms Scheduled To Face The Cubs
Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller will take the bump against the Cubs on Monday evening. Then, Jared Jones will return to action and start for them on Tuesday night. On Wednesday afternoon, the Pirates will give the ball to rookie phenom Paul Skenes.
Keller is coming off a start where he only allowed three hits and no runs over seven innings. Jones will make his first start since July 3rd after a lat strain put him on the injured list. Skenes has faced the Cubs twice in 2024, allowing just three runs in 10 innings pitched. He pitched six no-hit innings against the Cubs at Wrigley in his second career start.
The Cubs’ collective OPS is .734 over the last month, just above the league average. They will need to be better than average against the Pirates this week.
While the Pirates’ young starters have been pitching well, their bullpen hasn’t been able to keep things in line for them to reap the benefits. The Cubs’ starters can sympathize with this from the beginning of the season. If the Cubs want to get to that bullpen, they need to work the counts deep and keep them working hard.
The goal should be to take at least two of three games in Pittsburgh. A sweep would have the Cubs heading to Washington above .500 for the first time since the beginning of June.
