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This is why you never want to play in a sudden death type of game. And yeah the Cubs are still in the playoffs with the Wild Card Game Tuesday night, but randomness is the biggest and most dangerous aspect in games during October.
Good players can be bad and bad players can be great. That’s what happened to the Cubs in Game 163 against the Brewers.
And you might be thinking to yourself that Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun were the ones with the run-scoring hits to beat the Cubs, but Monday’s game could have gone differently if it wasn’t for Orlando Arcia.
Entering the game Arcia had a slash line of .227/.260/.299, for the Brewers. Just terrible offensive numbers, but a guy who plays because he’s awesome defensively at shortstop.
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In the decisive game for the central division, Arcia went 4-for-4, scoring two of three runs for the Brewers.
He batted eighth for Milwaukee on Monday and in the third inning he leadoff with a single. That let the Brewers have Chacin bunt him to second base to let Cain and Yelich have a chance to drive him in.
With two outs it was Yelich.
The September NL Player of the Month is getting a jump on those October stats. #ThisIsMyCrew #ThisIsMyMVP pic.twitter.com/gN895yd1kp
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 1, 2018
Again, Arcia entered the game as a .227 hitter. You simply can’t let the worst hitter aside from the pitcher beat you and he did.
The difference maker came in the eighth inning, when once again Arcia leadoff. Justin Wilson was pitching for the Cubs and after throwing two fastballs for strikes, one swinging, he for whatever reason threw a 0-2 slider up in the zone. Arcia singled and then Domingo Santana doubled.
Cain eventually came through with the go-ahead RBI and Braun tacked on an insurance run to make it 3-1.
Orlando Arcia is the real reason the Cubs now have to play in the Wild Card Game. You’ll see this every postseason. Randomness will kill you and now it’s really put the Cubs in a tough spot to just play in the NLDS.
The Brewers were better. All credit to them. Winning eight games in a row to end the season. The Cubs just weren’t good enough, but that means nothing if they can advance to the NLDS to play a best of five against the Brewers.
