Sep. 16—The host Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics both have their eyes set on at least 2025 as they prepare for the league-opening three-game series on Monday night.
A potential playoff spot is slowly slipping away from Chicago (76-73), which trails the Mets and Braves by five games in the National League wild-card race. New York and Atlanta are currently tied for the third and final wild card.
The Cubs lost three games in a row before beating the Colorado Rockies 6-2 on Sunday. Michael Bush paced Chicago with two home runs and Pete Crow-Armstrong also homered.
Bush and Crow-Armstrong gave the Cubs all the offense they needed to get past the remaining 16 base runners.
“We left a little bit of Central Illinois on base, but our offense played well,” Chicago coach Craig Counsell said. “We missed the next hit, but getting the extra (three) runs in the ninth inning was obviously a big deal.”
Sunday’s win marked the end of a six-game road trip for the Cubs, who went 3-3. Chicago has scored 40 times in that span, and now they will try to carry that run support into a seven-game homestand that begins with Monday’s game.
Left-hander Shota Imonaga (13-3, 3.03 ERA) hopes the Cubs can keep that momentum going as he is set to make his 28th start of the season on Monday.
Imonaga has been excellent, going 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his last four starts. He also excelled against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Tuesday, earning the win while giving up three runs on seven hits in seven innings.
Iemonaga will have his first career start against Oakland (65-85) on Monday.
Imonaga will face another Athletics newbie, right-hander Joey Estes (7-7, 4.36).
In his last start, Estes gave up three runs (two earned) and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Houston Astros last Wednesday.
Estes never faced Chicago.
Unlike the Cubs, Oakland has lost all hope of playing well in the fall and is out of postseason contention. However, things got worse this weekend as the Athletics lost two games to one in a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox.
The White Sox lead the majors with 115 losses, but that didn’t matter Sunday when they beat Oakland 4-3.
Now, the Athletics just want to focus on the positives of a season that would result in the club missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
One of the positives was Brent Rooker, who hit his 37th home run of the season on Sunday. He also hit 107 RBIs this year and batted .301, both single-season career highs. Rooker hit .316 while with the Minnesota Twins in 2020, but he played in only seven games.
“He continues to impress,” Oakland coach Mark Cortez said of Rucker. “I think you have to put this guy in the conversation for the ‘Silver Stick.'”
The Athletics rarely visit the Cubs as this is their first game at Wrigley Field since August 2019.
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