What's it gonna take?
The Cubs are flirting with disaster, but this would be tough even for them
Before you read Monday Morning Cubbin' Down, enjoy last night's RECRAP of the Bears offense going HAM in Carolina.
RECRAP - Bears 59, Panthers 37 - September 13, 2026
The Cubs have spent the last two weeks acting like a team intent on blowing what was once a very large Wild Card lead. On August 12 they beat the Nationals to go 21 games over .500. They had cut the Brewers lead in the Central to three games, and held a 6.5 game lead over the Padres for home field in the NL Wild Card race, and were 7.5 games ahead of the Phillies and D'bags, so they were effectively a shoo-in for one of the three Wild Card spots.
Since, they have gone 12-17 and have lost six of their last eight series. They are a staggering 10 games behind the Brewers in the Central. They are currently tied with the Phillies for the top spot in the Wild Card, but are just four games clear of the D'bags for the final Wild Card spot. With 12 games to go, it's not unthinkable that the Cubs could miss the playoffs altogether.
Should we panic? I mean, Sahadev and Mooney's podcast already started to do it last week.
But the answer is, no. There's little if any need to panic. As hard as the Cubs might try to blow it the math, the tiebreakers and the quality of their pursuers makes it unlikely.
Let's address the most humiliating option, missing the playoffs altogether.
