Three 100-win Division clinchers, with the potential of five. Only St. Louis, the probable Central Division Champs with 89 victories will fail to exceed the century mark this season. This tells you a lot about their chances in the post-season. Does this reveal my bitterness as a Cub fan? It was almost a predictable collapse considering the consistent failure of the Cubs bullpen. It almost became a joke, having watched game after game of blown late inning leads. Joe Maddon is almost certainly a goner, despite the fact that he made the only possible moves to preserve victory. If it wasn’t Pedro Strop giving up the walk-off, it was Craig Kimbrel or Brandon Kintzler. It just goes to prove that if your last name starts with K, it doesn’t mean you can deliver one!

The real “K” leader, Yu Darvich finally got his sh*t together, but could typically only deliver six or seven innings. Today, Joe stretched him to nine, but he ran out of gas. Strop once again could not save the day and the Cards struck “Gold” in earning their first 4-game sweep at Wrigley in almost a century. Each game was a one-run loss by the Cubs in the last inning, with the first happening in the 10th. It was “Nightmare on Clark Street!” There will now be three meaningless games at Busch Stadium to conclude the 2019 regular season. The Cards will play on, after four frustrating years of playing second fiddle to their Chicago rivals. I’ve seen the taunting Facebook posts all day long – like they really have a chance in the Post-Season. All they’ve really done is edge the Stinkin’ Sinkin’ Cubs!

The shining star for the Cubs down the stretch was Nico Hoerner, who played his college ball at Stanford. He was the only member of the 2018 class to make the Majors this year. Injuries to Baez and Russell brought him off the couch to the diamond, and he made it pay-off. They might as well now give the entire All Star quality, yet injury-riddled, infield of Baez, Rizzo, and Bryant have an extra week of off-season rest and let Zobrist, Bote, Caritini, Happ, Kemp and Russell get the extra practice. They certainly didn’t contribute much to the success of this team, especially when it mattered. As we’re accustomed to saying as Cubs’ fans, “Maybe Next Year?” Let me also be one of the first to add, “Goodbye Joe!”