Sunday, September 9, 2018

18

Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the Cubs' weekend series in DC. After winning Thursday's opener, they waited until late Friday night before MLB postponed Friday's game, scheduling a true double-header for Saturday. Despite a two-hour rain delay, the teams were able to get both games in. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, the North Siders dropped both games to the Nats.

Sunday's game was also postponed due to weather and was rescheduled for this Thursday, which was to be the Cubs' first true off day in 23 days. Now their next -- and final -- regular season off day will be the 20th, capping a stretch of 30 consecutive days without a day off. While manager Joe Maddon has shaken the lineup frequently to provide some rest days for individual players, that's a long stretch any way you slice it.

With rain in the DC forecast all week and Hurricane Florence threatening the east coast, there's at least a small chance that MLB could move Thursday's game to Wrigley, since Wrigley's available and the Nats are already on the road. In that case, Washington would be the "home" team, batting second -- an unusual, but not unprecedented, option for MLB.

Another option would be to play the game in Philadelphia, where the Nats will have just wrapped up a series with the Phillies, who have an off day on Thursday. But there's rain in Thursday's forecast in Philly, too.

Of course, a third option would be to reschedule the game for Monday, October 1 in DC and only play it if its outcome would have playoff implications. This seems the most likely scenario if rain looks inevitable in DC & Philadelphia.

Still, there's a chance that we'll see this game played in Chicago (Thursday's forecast: 79ยบ and sunny), especially since MLB could be scrambling to reschedule quite a few games this week. Stay tuned.

With Sunday's postponement, the first place Cubs return to Wrigley on Monday having gone 5-5 on this road trip. Meanwhile, the second place Brewers have won 14 of their last 19 games and are just 2 games back in the NL Central race.

The two teams face off in the Friendly Confines for the final three times of the regular season this week. To say that this is a big series would be an understatement:  Wednesday night the Cubs could find themselves anywhere from one game behind to five games ahead of the Brewers in the Central. Here's hoping it's the latter! 140 regular season games down, 22 to go!

Go Cubs go!



 Image Credits:  Chicago Cubs

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