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When the goal is to snap a World Series championship drought that’s existed for longer than Wrigley Field itself, it’s best to leave as little as possible to chance.

That pretty much explains the 2016 Chicago Cubs.

To do a quick recap of what happened in the regular season, the Cubs won 103 games and scored 252 more runs than they allowed. Both figures far outpaced those of any other team. The long and short of it is that the rest of Major League Baseball had no answer for how to stop Chicago.

So why should anybody be surprised that the San Francisco Giants haven’t found it in the National League Division Series?

One day after a thrilling 1-0 win in Game 1, the Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 series lead with a 5-2 win in Game 2 at Wrigley Field on Saturday night. This one was less thrilling. Both clubs scored all their runs in the first four frames. Then there was a bullpen battle that featured little drama until Aroldis Chapman closed it out with the help of his triple-digit heat.

And just like that, the Cubs are now one win away from their second trip to the National League Championship Series in as many years.

Oh, I know. It’s not wise to count the Giants out.

They weren’t always favored in their postseason matchups in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and more than once (2012 NLDS, 2014 NLCS), they found themselves with their backs against the wall. They cast whatever spell it is they cast and won three World Series anyway. And now they’re going home and will be throwing ace left-hander/postseason pitching deity Madison Bumgarner in Game 3.

“It’s tough to lose two here, but it’s a case that we have been down this road before,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, per Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. “It’s never easy with us, so we’re hoping to get one here, but now we go home, and you keep fighting. That’s all you can do.”

However, nothing the Giants have experienced in their three World Series runs has prepared them for a team like the Cubs. Simple fact is: There is no team like the Cubs.

Their lineup was the first thing that caught the eye coming into the year, and it lived up to the hype. The Cubs finished second in the National League in runs and first in on-base percentage.

Manager Joe Maddon’s mixing, matching and manipulating were key. Even disregarding the pitcher’s spot, the Cubs’ skipper used 130 different lineups during the regular season. He didn’t use any one particular lineup more than six times. Taken with the collective on-base ability, the Cubs offense has basically been a shape-shifting monster that just…keeps…coming.

The shape-shifting aspect has yet to be seen in the NLDS. Maddon has only changed the last two spots in the two lineups he’s used. But the relentlessness of the Cubs offense was felt Saturday when it chased Jeff Samardzija with six hits, a walk and four runs in the first two innings.

Not to be overlooked in the midst of that was Javier Baez, who showed off another quality of this Cubs offense. Per FanGraphs, the Cubs were a top-five baserunning team in the regular season. Being aggressive in the right situations was a factor in that, and Mike Axisa of CBS Sports is right to point out how Baez’s aggressiveness on a single by Kyle Hendricks created an extra run.

Roughly 24 hours earlier, it was Baez who displayed the other noteworthy quality of the Cubs offense. He was one of nine different Cubs to hit 10 or more home runs in leading the team to 199 dingers in the regular season. If Baez hadn’t been Johnny Javy on the Spot with his clutch dinger off Johnny Cueto in the eighth inning, it may eventually have been someone else.

Even Cubs pitchers are no pushovers. They posted the second-highest OPS among National League teams this season. Hendricks lived up to that with a two-run single in Game 2. Travis Wood did him one better with a solo job in the fourth, becoming the first reliever to hit a postseason homer since 1924.

Meanwhile, the same guys who form a multitalented offense also form a multitalented defense. The Cubs finished far ahead of any other team in defensive efficiency, according to Baseball Prospectus. Ditto for defensive runs saved.

This has also been felt in the NLDS. The Cubs got out of character by making three errors in Game 2, but Game 1 featured David Ross do Jon Lester a solid by cutting down two baserunners. In a game that was scoreless until the eighth, that was huge.

Of course, Lester also did his part in shutting out the Giants for eight innings. That was a bit of same ol’ same ol’ for a Cubs starting rotation that led baseball with a 2.96 ERA. Hendricks, the major league ERA leader at 2.13, may have kept it up in Game 2 if he hadn’t taken a line drive off his pitching arm.

But Hendricks’ early exit was an opportunity for Maddon to show off his bullpen. Even before he called on his big guns (Hector Rondon and Chapman) to seal the deal, a B squad of Wood, Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery combined for 3.2 scoreless innings.

That was a taste of what things were like in the second half. The Cubs had a leaky bullpen before the break. But after the break, in part due to the additions of Chapman and Montgomery, it had a 3.11 ERA that ranked second in MLB.

Considering all this, give the Giants credit that this series hasn’t been one-sided. They’ve played the Cubs tough, only getting outscored 6-2. Take away runs driven in by pitchers, it’s only 3-2. For whatever that’s worth.

But in this case, it doesn’t feel like a bad break that the Giants have played the Cubs tough and still come away with two losses. It feels like reality running its course. The Cubs have been an unstoppable force all season. With an 87-75 record that a 30-42 showing in the second half brought down, the Giants are a poor fit as the immovable object that’s going to stop them.      

The big question, as such, remains unchanged: Is any team a good fit for that role?   

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Game 2 of the National League Division Series may not have gone as planned for the Chicago Cubs, but they earned a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants and took a commanding 2-0 series lead Saturday at Wrigley Field. 

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks caused mass panic in Chicago when he exited in the top of the fourth inning after taking a line drive to his right (pitching) arm off the bat of Angel Pagan. 

Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reported Hendricks left with a right forearm contusion and was being evaluated. He led Major League Baseball with a 2.13 ERA and finished second with a 0.98 WHIP during the regular season. 

The Cubs could have an issue if Hendricks has to miss a start, though the good news is the team announced his X-rays came back negative.

Jon Lester was brilliant with eight scoreless innings in Game 1, but Game 3 starter Jake Arrieta struggled with a 3.69 ERA in the second half. Expected Game 4 starter John Lackey had a 2.76 ERA in the second half, though he only started 11 games due to injuries. 

Prior to leaving, Hendricks was having an outing to remember in an unexpected way with this two-run single in the second inning, as MLB Network showed:

Travis Wood relieved Hendricks with two outs in the fourth inning, and he struck out Conor Gillaspie to end the top half of the frame. Wood came up to bat in the bottom half of the inning and proceeded to hit a homer deep into the left field bleachers. 

Per ESPN’s Jayson Stark, home runs for relief pitchers in the postseason have become extremely rare:

Per Muskat, it hasn’t been quite as long since the Cubs have had a pitcher—starter or reliever—hit a home run in a playoff game:

At that point, Cubs pitchers accounted for three of the team’s five RBI.

The Giants were in a huge hole early because Jeff Samardzija’s first career playoff start did not go well for San Francisco. He gave up four runs in the first two innings and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the third. 

Per ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon, Samardzija’s two-inning start marked the shortest of his MLB career. Stark noted the Shark struggled against winning teams in 2016:

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, going into a 4-0 hole against Hendricks has not been a recipe for success in 2016:

Regardless of who is pitching, getting a four-run lead has been virtually an automatic win for the Cubs this season, per Baseball Tonight:

Before Hendricks was forced out, the Giants chipped away at the lead thanks to Gregor Blanco’s RBI double, which scored Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt’s sacrifice fly, which scored Blanco to make it 4-2. 

The bad news for the Giants is that was all their offense could muster.

Wood, Carl Edwards Jr., Mike Montgomery, Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman combined for 5.1 scoreless innings in which they allowed just two hits with no walks and six strikeouts. 

Another problem facing the Giants as they head back home for Game 3 on Monday is they aren’t taking advantage of holding the heart of Chicago’s lineup (Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell) to a combined 1-for-21 in the first two games. 

There is one bright spot for San Francisco even with this hole to climb out of: Madison Bumgarner. The Giants ace will take the mound at home, trying to keep his team alive. 

In case you haven’t heard, Bumgarner is pretty good in these do-or-die situations. His last run allowed in the playoffs was a solo homer by Salvador Perez the seventh inning of Game 1 of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals. 

Bumgarner has gone 23 straight scoreless innings in the postseason since, including a complete-game shutout against the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card Game on Wednesday. 

The Cubs have looked every bit the best team in baseball they were during the regular season through two games. They got great pitching in Game 1 from Lester, and the offense came to life early in Game 2 before the bullpen took over. 

Even though the even-year magic may have helped carry the Giants this far, even with Bumgarner going Monday, they will need a lot of help to bring this series back to Chicago for a potential Game 5. 

Postgame Reaction

After the game, Hendricks’ arm was one of the biggest discussion points. He seemed optimistic about this being a short-term issue, per Muskat and Chris Haft of MLB.com:

When it first hit me, I didn’t really feel it in the moment. I just tried to recover and make the play. Once I started throwing off the mound, it just started tightening up on me. The X-rays were negative though, so hopefully it’s just a day-to-day thing. I’ll see how I feel over the next couple days.

From one difficult moment to another, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is using his team’s recent history of October success as a motivating factor going back home.

“It’s tough to lose two here, but it’s a case that we have been down this road before,” Bochy said, per Muskat and Haft. “It’s never easy with us, so we’re hoping to get one here, but now we go home and you keep fighting. That’s all you can do.”

There isn’t any way to sugarcoat where things stand for the Giants. All they can do is hope history is able to repeat itself starting Monday. 

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks left Saturday’s National League Division Series game against the San Francisco Giants after taking a line drive off his arm.

Continue for updates.

Latest Details on Hendricks’ Injury

Saturday, Oct. 8

X-rays on Hendricks’ arm were negative, per Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.

Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the pitcher has a bruised arm.

Hendricks Tried to Stay in Game

Saturday, Oct. 8

Per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed Hendricks after the right-hander tried to talk his manager into leaving him in.

Former Cubs outfielder Angel Pagan hit the liner off an 80 mph changeup from Hendricks, and it appeared to strike his forearm. Hendricks threw a few warm-up pitches, hoping to remain in the game, before Maddon made the decision to bring Travis Wood in from the bullpen.

Hendricks’ Surprise Breakout Season Gives Cubs Dominant Rotation

Hendricks is enjoying a breakout season for Chicago that’s left him among the league leaders in every major pitching category, including ERA (2.13) and ERA+ (188), per Baseball-Reference.com. It makes the prospect of an injury setback even more concerning as the team gears up for a potentially deep postseason run.

The 26-year-old has remained durable during the early stages of his major league career. He made 32 starts last season, his first full year in the big leagues, and has been a constant cog in Chicago’s rotation throughout 2016.

The Cubs still boast depth in their starting rotation for the postseason with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Hendricks is a clear difference-maker after his breakout season, and it would be a huge loss if he has to miss extended time.

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The Colorado Rockies are in search of a new manager after Walt Weiss stepped down from the job after four seasons with the club on Monday.

Continue for updates.

Perez On Rockies’ Radar

Saturday, Oct. 8

On Saturday, Thomas Harding of the Rockies’ official website reported that the team is looking at Atlanta Braves first base coach Eddie Perez as a possible candidate. Perez “acknowledged” that he’s been contacted by the organization, according to Reyes Urena of Venezuelan publication El Emergente (via Harding).

Other than Perez, Harding noted any other Rockies coaching candidates have remained unknown at the moment, although Triple-A manager Glenallen Hill’s name was mentioned during a conference call after it was announced that Weiss would not be returning. 

Perez is currently spending the offseason coaching Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan Winter League and has been a coach with the Braves for 10 seasons. 

Last season, he won the Winter League title with the Venezuelan club and advanced to the Caribbean Series, where his team fell in the finals to Mexico’s Venados de Mazatlan. 

That kind of managerial success was expected from his former teammate and future Hall of Famer, Chipper Jones, via David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

I’m not surprised at all of Eddie’s success as a manager. It is just a matter of time before he is experiencing success as a big league manager. He’s learned a ton, as have many coaches, from the great [former Braves manager] Bobby Cox. Some of the same traits that made him an all-time favorite teammate for countless players, are also what makes him a great manager now, and in the future.

The 48-year-old previously spent 11 years in the majors from 1995 to 2005 as a catcher and first baseman mostly for the Braves along with two one-year stints with the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. 

He posted a .253 career batting average with 40 home runs and 172 RBI as he spent a large portion of his career backing up Javy Lopez in Atlanta. However, his finest moment came in 1999 when he was voted NLCS MVP for batting .500 with two home runs and five RBI against the New York Mets in six games:

Whether it be Perez or another candidate, the new manager of the Rockies will have their hands full in turning around an organization that has been irrelevant for the better part of seven years. 

The 2016 season was the first time since 2010 that the Rockies didn’t finish fourth or last in the National League West Division. They haven’t had a winning season since that 2010 season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2009. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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The Washington Nationals may be allergic to their own home stadium in the postseason.

It seems that way after they dropped the opening game of their National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nats were on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision, as they were unable to push across the tying run after closing a four-run deficit to one run in the fourth inning.

In the other National League series, the Chicago Cubs are attempting to build off their series-opening 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants as they send ace Kyle Hendricks to the mound against former Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija in Game 2.

The Nationals have a 1-4 record at home in three different postseason series since the franchise relocated from Montreal following the 2004 season. They have to find a way to reverse that in order to avoid going down 0-2 prior to playing Game 3 in Los Angeles.

How? They need to jump out to a lead in the first few innings so they don’t have to rally back against the powerful Los Angeles bullpen.

Kenley Jansen is one of the best closers in the game, and he is that unit’s headliner, but the Dodgers have the weapons in the pen to hold onto a lead at any point once they get past the five-inning mark.

That will require some productive at-bats from Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy. The Nats did not get an RBI from any of those three players in Game 1, and that has to change in Game 2 and beyond.

The Dodgers received early home runs from rookie phenom Corey Seager and Justin Turner, and that gave Clayton Kershaw an early lead. Since the Dodgers were able to solve flamethrower Max Scherzer, they should be confident against Saturday’s starting pitcher, Tanner Roark.

Scherzer blamed himself for allowing those home runs. 

“It’s pitch execution,” he told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. “I’m accountable for that, and I’ll shoulder that, and I’ll take the blame for that. I know I’m capable of executing pitches at a higher level, and I’ve got to do it.”

The Dodgers will have tricky left-hander Rich Hill on the mound, and while his pitches often look hittable, he can be difficult to decipher. 

Roark went 16-10 this season with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP. The 36-year-old Hill pitched 34.1 innings this season for the Dodgers after coming over from the Oakland A’s, and he had a 1.83 ERA and a 0.786 WHIP in that span.

Prediction: The Nationals need this game and have the steady Roark on the mound. However, they are pressing and won’t be able to do much against Hill. Look for the Dodgers to squeak out a 2-1 victory and take a 2-0 lead to Los Angeles.

San Francisco at Chicago

Javier Baez’s eighth-inning home run was enough to give Jon Lester and the Cubs a 1-0 victory over Johnny Cueto and the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS opener at Wrigley Field.

“That’s classic playoff baseball in the National League right there,” catcher David Ross told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. “There was going to be good pitching; we knew that coming in. That’s a really good team.”

Look for more hitting from the Cubs in Game 2 against Samardzija, who does not have the same kind of command that Cueto or Madison Bumgarner has for the Giants.

Samardzija went 12-11 with a 3.81 ERA, but the Cubs should be able to solve him. Expect NL MVP candidate Kris Bryant and slugging first baseman Anthony Rizzo to join Baez by contributing on offense.

On the other hand, the Giants will not have an easy time against the overachieving Hendricks. He led baseball with a 2.13 ERA this season and features three different changeups that can be rough on hitters.

The Giants don’t have a home run-hitting lineup, as Brandon Belt led the team with 17 dingers. If they are going to rally, they will need to string hits together, but that doesn’t often happen against Hendricks.

Prediction: After facing Cueto in Game 1, the Cubs are going to find their hitting stroke against Samardzija. The former Cubs pitcher is unlikely to be as sharp as his counterpart, and the Cubs will take advantage of his mistakes.

Even if the wind is blowing the other way, the Cubs will find the seats and come away with a 5-3 victory and a 2-0 lead in the series.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of their National League Division Series matchup, and the two teams are back at it on Saturday.

Corey Seager and Justin Turner both homered for the Dodgers in Game 1, while closer Kenley Jansen struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings to slam the door for the save.

Rich Hill (12-5, 2.12 ERA, 129 K) gets the start for the Dodgers, and he’ll be opposed by Tanner Roark (16-10, 2.83 ERA, 172 K), who quietly put together a terrific season of his own.

First pitch from Nationals Park is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET, and the game can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Who will come out on top in Game 2 of this exciting NLDS matchup?

Keep it right here for live updates on all of today’s action.

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Fact: David Price gave up 5 ER in 3.1 IP in the Red Sox‘s 6-0 loss to the Indians on Friday. He is now 0-8 in his career in postseason starts. 

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: B/R Insights

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In a best-of-five series, teams that lose the first game find themselves on high alert.

There is little margin for error, and especially in the case of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants, there is plenty of work to do.

Los Angeles at Washington, Game 2 (Los Angeles leads series 1-0)

Homestanding Washington dropped Game 1 of its National League Division Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the contest was expected to be a razor-sharp pitcher’s duel between Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Max Scherzer of the Nationals, neither starter was on top of his game.

The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead in the third inning, but the Nats had closed to within 4-3 by the bottom of the fourth. That’s how the game ended, as the bullpens did not yield any runs.

The Los Angeles bullpen was one of the team’s greatest strengths all year. Dodgers relievers led the majors with a 3.35 ERA (Washington was second with a 3.37 ERA), and manager Dave Roberts used his relief pitchers in an MLB-high 590.2 innings.

Kenley Jansen is one of the best closers in the game, and he was called on with five outs to go in Game 1. While that was a departure from his usual three-out save, Jansen got the job done, allowing just one hit and striking out three.

During the regular season, Jansen recorded 47 saves in 53 chances, a 1.83 ERA and a remarkable 0.67 WHIP.

Los Angeles also has Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton and Pedro Baez, all of whom were superb in Game 1.

“Whatever we’ve got to do to win, right? Those guys are up to the challenge,” Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager said, per the Associated Press’ Howard Fendrich. “And they’ve been up to it all year.”

Therein lies the key for the Dodgers: Get the lead by the fifth or sixth inning and turn the game over to the bullpen.

On the other hand, if the Nationals can take an early lead, that will remove quite a bit of the pressure that Dusty Baker’s team will have on its shoulders throughout Game 2.

Washington needs to have its big hitters come through. Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy filled the second, third and fourth spots in the Nationals’ batting order Friday, but none of them drove in a run in Game 1.

That has to change if the Nationals are going to tie the series before the two teams head to Los Angeles.

Key for Los Angeles: Get a lead, and get the ball to the bullpen.

Key for Washington: Get run production from Harper, Werth and Murphy.

San Francisco at Chicago, Game 2 (Chicago leads series 1-0)

While the Nationals fell short on their home field in Game 1, the Chicago Cubs did not.

They won a tight, emotional pitcher’s duel 1-0 thanks to Javier Baez’s home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, which ruined a sensational effort by San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto.

“He’s been pitching me inside. I was just waiting for him to make a mistake, and he left it over the plate,” Baez said, per the Associated Press (via the Los Angeles Times).

Chicago starter Jon Lester earned the win, and fireballing closer Aroldis Chapman picked up the save.

Game 2 figures to feature more hitting—for one team, at least. Former Cub Jeff Samardzija will start for the Giants, while Cy Young Award candidate Kyle Hendricks will take the mound for the North Siders.

Samardzija was 12-11 this season with an unremarkable 3.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, and he gave up 8.4 hits and 1.1 home runs per nine innings. It would not be a surprise if Chicago—after facing the dominating stuff of Cueto in Game 1—got its offense going against “Shark.”

Look for Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to take good swings against Samardzija and put at least five runs on the board.

San Francisco, which ranked 28th in the majors with only 130 home runs during the regular season, may have a hard time against the sensational Hendricks. The right-hander had a 16-8 record with an MLB-best 2.13 ERA and 0.98 WHIP and features two different changeups. While his pitches—including an 87.8 mph fastball—often look hittable, opposing batters just can’t figure him out.

Hendricks may not be a hard thrower, but he still struck out 170 hitters in 190 innings this season.

The Giants need to play their best game to get a split at Wrigley Field. The lineup has to figure out Hendricks, and Samardzija and the bullpen must be on point.

Key for San Francisco: Play near-perfect baseball.

Key for Chicago: Hit Samardzija hard.

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The Chicago Cubs have no shortage of burgeoning stars.

Toss a fungo bat during Chicago’s pregame warm-ups, and you’re likely to hit a young stud: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell—the list goes on.

In Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, second baseman Javier Baez nudged his name closer to the top of the Cubs’ up-and-comer leaderboard. 

With the score knotted 0-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Baez crushed a solo homer off Giants starter Johnny Cueto, much to the delight of the long-suffering Wrigley Field masses.

MLB.com’s Cut4 offered a look at the timely shot:

Prior to Baez’s blast, Cueto had been cruising, yielding no runs, two hits and no walks with nine strikeouts. Cueto went on to finish the eighth inning and added another strikeout, making his final line unequivocally impressive. 

On the other side, Cubs starter Jon Lester put up zeroes for eight innings, surrendering five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

And trade-deadline acquisition Aroldis Chapman came on to slam the door in the ninth, toting his triple-digit heater.

It was a classic pitchers’ duel and a see-who-blinks-first affair.

There’s no shame on the menu for Cueto, who pitched brilliantly in his first postseason start with San Francisco.

Instead, heap credit on Baez, who could emerge as the breakout star of the 2016 playoffs.

“At times this year he’s carried us, both offensively and defensively,” Lester said of Baez, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat. “It’s just been fun to watch. Any given night it seems like he makes a play to save the game for us.”

The 23-year-old had a solid season overall, posting a .273 average and .737 OPS in 142 games and putting up 11 defensive runs saved at second base.

The latter stat melds with the slick-fielding Russell to form arguably the flashiest keystone combo in baseball.

After hitting just .220 in August, Baez raised his average to .284 with 12 RBI in September and October. Now, after cutting his teeth with a 5-for-15 performance in the 2015 playoffs, he’s poised to do much, much more.

The ninth overall pick in the 2011 draft, Baez has worn the Cubs’ top-prospect label his entire pro career.

Still, it’s easy to get overshadowed in this gilded Chicago organization. You’ve got to shine to be noticed.

Right now, Baez is sparkling.

If you’re a Giants fans looking to lose more sleep tonight, there’s this, courtesy of USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale:

Whatever the outcome of this best-of-five Cubs/Giants tussle, Baez’s homer will stand as a moment in Cubs lore. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice, to quote noted North Side booster Bill Murray.

For his part, Baez struck an appropriately humble note.

“I had a big hit, but we have to turn the page,” he said after taking Cueto deep, per Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune. “We have 10 wins to go.”

We know Cubs skipper Joe Maddon loves to mix and match his chess pieces, so don’t be surprised if switch-hitting veteran Ben Zobrist gets some reps at second.

Baez, however, will be given ample opportunities.

The Cubs are likely to face two more left-handers in this NLDS—Madison Bumgarner and Matt Moore—and Baez owns an .801 career OPS against southpaws compared to a .636 mark against righties.

The postseason is a time when anything can happen. Superstars crash to earth, and scrubs rise to prominence. If you’re looking for a guy with a shot to rise, however, keep your eyes trained on Baez.

The Cubs have no shortage of stars. On Friday, Baez showed why he deserves a place in the firmament.

All statistics current as of Friday and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t receive a sterling performance from starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Friday, but a couple of home runs and a strong bullpen effort allowed the NL West champions to sneak out a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.  

Washington now trails 1-0 with Game 2 slated for Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park. It got off on the wrong foot in search of the franchise’s first division series victory since 1981. 

Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer allowed 17 first-inning runs this season—his most in any stanza, according to MASN’s Mark Zuckerman—and his trend of starting slowly continued Friday. 

Corey Seager stepped into the box as the second batter of the day, and he promptly crushed a solo home run over the center field fence in his first career postseason at-bat to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead, as MLB showed on Twitter: 

The Nationals didn’t experience similar success on the scoreboard during the game’s opening stages, but they did make Kershaw work. Specifically, Washington loaded the bases in the second, and Scherzer worked an eight-pitch at-bat against the southpaw before he popped out to shallow left. 

As the Washington Post‘s Jorge Castillo noted, the Nationals had to take solace in silver linings as the Dodgers maintained a slight edge: 

Once that crisis was averted, the Dodgers collectively exhaled and continued to find success in spots against Scherzer.

After Andrew Toles singled to start the inning, Chase Utley scored him from second on a single of his own to push the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0. A couple of batters later, Justin Turner followed in Seager’s footsteps and crushed a two-run home run to give L.A. a cushy 4-0 advantage. 

CSN Mid Atlantic’s Chase Hughes put Scherzer’s struggles in context: 

But just when it looked like the wheels were starting to fall off, the Nationals responded. 

With men on second and third, Anthony Rendon delivered a two-run single to left field to slash the Dodgers’ lead in half. 

By the time the third inning came to a close, Kershaw had thrown 66 pitches and allowed five hits in what proved to be another less than stellar postseason display. 

ESPN Los Angeles’ Steve Mason believed Kershaw didn’t look like himself on the mound in hostile territory: 

Kershaw gutted it out through the end of the fourth inning after he allowed Washington to cut L.A.’s lead to one, but his command remained shaky.

Los Angeles’ ace ultimately logged 101 pitches through five innings—which represented the most he tossed since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 9, according to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. 

Sporting News’ Jesse Spector broke down Kershaw’s evening once the three-time Cy Young Award winner was replaced by reliever Joe Blanton: 

Conversely, Scherzer struck out five and gave up five hits over six innings. However, two costly mistakes served as blemishes on an otherwise impressive outing, per Zuckerman: 

Once the starters sat, the Dodgers bullpen took over. 

Blanton, Grant Dayton and Pedro Baez combined to pitch 2.1 no-hit innings, and they served as a stellar bridge to closer Kenley Jansen—who was brought aboard for his first successful five-out save since April 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, per ESPN Stats & Info. 

Jansen’s clutch effort was amplified by the fact he retired Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth in the ninth to give his side a 1-0 series lead. 

The Nationals will now turn to Tanner Roark (16-10, 2.83 ERA) to try to stem the tide in Game 2, while the Dodgers will trust Rich Hill (12-5, 2.12 ERA) on the mound as they seek to take a 2-0 lead back to Hollywood and advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2013. 

Postgame Reaction

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Dodgers are in an advantageous spot entering Game 2: 

Hoornstra later relayed word from manager Dave Roberts regarding Jansen’s potential usage later in the series: 

The Los Angeles Times‘ Bill Shaikin noted Jansen was in favor of that plan: 

As for the Nationals, Daniel Murphy owned up to his decision to try to swipe second when he was caught stealing. 

“There are two choices there, be safe or don’t run,” he said, according to MLB.com’s Alex Putterman. “It was a bad play.”

As for Danny Espinosa (0-for-3 with three strikeouts), manager Dusty Baker just noted it wasn’t the shortstop’s night. 

“Espinosa can turn around and hit the next pitch out of the park,” he said, according to the Washington Post‘s Chelsea Janes. “That’s what’s kind of frustrating…his swing was long tonight.”

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