eighth straight win provides Cubs shopping for potential

ST. LOUIS — At the outset of the second half, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer mentioned there have been two essential containers to verify as a way to realistically desk the considered promoting on the Trade Deadline.

“We need to make up ground on first place,” Hoyer mentioned, “and we need to make up ground on .500. That’s important.”

The Cubs have answered the decision, choosing up their eighth win in a row with a 5-1 victory over the divsion-rival Cardinals on Saturday evening at Busch Stadium. That marks the longest successful streak for the North Siders since rattling off an 11-game run throughout July and August in 2016. The Cubs hoisted the World Series trophy on the finish of that marketing campaign.

That has put the Cubs ready so as to add to the roster earlier than Tuesday’s Trade Deadline.

“If we continue to go out and play and do what we’re doing — play good baseball and rack up wins — then good things are going to happen,” Cubs supervisor David Ross mentioned. “I think that’s all we need to know. We need to focus on the game. We need to focus on the Cardinals.”

In the most recent win over their I-55 rivals, the Cubs had quite a lot of gamers come up massive:

The checklist might be even longer.

“It’s been fun,” mentioned Taillon, who has a 1.78 ERA in his final 4 begins. “That’s kind of the way we’re built. It’s like we’re going to need everyone at some point. This isn’t built around one or two superstars. This is a deep roster. And I think that’s one of our strengths. Right now, it does feel like everyone’s contributing.”

It has been exactly what the entrance workplace wanted to see from the workforce between the beginning of the second half and the arrival of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. CT Trade Deadline. It felt that method just a few video games in the past, and the gamers have continued to maintain the foot on the accelerator.

Now, perhaps the main target can shift towards discovering areas to improve the roster. The again of the bullpen has proven nice enchancment, however one other arm, particularly a lefty, may assist. The rotation could be an space to focus on. The Cubs may gain advantage from one other right-handed bat to elongate issues out.

Ross wouldn’t tip his hand when requested if Hoyer has indicated that the entrance workplace has moved into purchase mode.

“I wouldn’t say that. We just talk constantly,” Ross mentioned. “I’ve never sat in that seat, so it’s speculation, but it just feels like there’s probably a lot of different avenues that every team works through and conversations that everybody has. That, ‘If this happens and that happens, what are the needs? What are the pieces?’ And they work through all that.”

The supervisor mentioned there stays “a lot of variability” to what the Cubs’ decision-makers should weigh within the coming days. That mentioned, everybody from the possession to the entrance workplace to the coaches and gamers has one purpose in thoughts.

“They want to win. We want to win,” Ross mentioned. “I definitely think the group has proven the capability of playing really good baseball and making up ground. I know Jed has said [that] chasing down .500 was important. We’re definitely closer to that than we were.”