ATLANTA — Forget tacky baseballs. It looked as if Cubs fielders were handling one coated in grease early in the game Thursday. A dropped ball in left field. A bobbled swinging bunt.
The Cubs’ defense, which has been a strength all season, had notable gaffes in each of the team’s games against the Braves this week. After a 5-3 loss to Atlanta on Thursday, which completed the series sweep, the Cubs’ playoff chances looked just as slippery.
“I feel like everything that could be going wrong is going wrong,” Cubs starter Marcus Stroman said. “Hopefully luck starts to be in our favor in Milwaukee.”
The Cubs’ postseason fate is no longer squarely in their control.
When their game ended, the Marlins, who were tied with the Cubs for the third National League wild-card spot going into the day, were still in a rain delay in the ninth inning against the Mets. So the exact playoff implications of the Cubs’ loss weren’t immediately clear. But the Marlins hold the tiebreaker.
As the Cubs processed the uphill climb ahead, the Braves secured home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
“We obviously didn’t play well enough to win any baseball games,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said of the series. “Weren’t able to come through when it mattered. Definitely a frustrating series for us.”
It might not have been so frustrating if it hadn’t come soon after a 1-5 road trip to Colorado and Arizona, followed by a series loss to the Pirates at Wrigley Field. Sweeping the next series against the Rockies only cured so much.
The Cubs weren’t expected to win the series against the Braves, the best team in baseball, even though the North Siders had done so at home in July. But it was clear going into the three-game set that the Cubs would likely have to win at least one game to enter the final weekend of the regular season in a comfortable position.
Those stakes made the Cubs’ pair of one-run losses to open the series especially heart-wrenching, as the team squandered two good chances to grind out a crucial win.
“We’ve got to play clean baseball; we’re better when we do that,” manager David Ross said. “Pitching and defense have been our signature when we’re having success.”
Both faltered early on Thursday. Stroman, making his second start since returning from a fracture in his rib cartilage, was out of the game after two innings.
“Just feeling a little off since I came back from the IL,” he said. “Just feel like I haven’t been as sharp, haven’t been as in sync. Just haven’t been able to execute like I was earlier in the year.”
With two outs in the first inning, he surrendered a two-run home run to Matt Olson on a slider low and inside. Olson set a franchise record with his MLB-leading 135th RBI.
Stroman’s next inning began with an error. The Braves’ Eddie Rosario hit an opposite-field line drive, and left fielder Ian Happ sprinted into the gap after it. But as Happ slid to make the catch, the ball popped out of his glove. Rosario reached second base. So when Michael Harris II hit a one-out double to the warning track and Ronald Acuña Jr. lined a two-out single into shallow center, both resulting runs were unearned.
Right-hander Javier Assad replaced Stroman in the third inning, poised to throw two innings on one day of rest. Austin Riley’s leadoff triple was the only damage Assad gave up. But he bobbled a swinging bunt from Rosario, allowing the run to score. The Braves took a 5-1 lead.
The Cubs had an opportunity for a comeback in the eighth. They had trimmed the deficit to three runs on Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double two innings earlier. Swanson stepped up to the plate with one out and runners on first and second. He grounded into a double play.
“We’ve talked about how we bounce back — this, that and the other — we’ve done it all year,” Swanson said. “And we don’t really have any options. So we’ll come out and be ready to go tomorrow.’’
