Dodgers Get Some Major Help From Cubs

Thanks to the Chicago Cubs, the San Francisco Giants are having trouble sticking the Wild Card and playoff picture — great news for the Dodgers.

Down the stretch, the teams in Major League Baseball like to make the most out of what they’ve got in their lineup, with this year’s winners being the Toronto Blue Jays.

Troy Tulowitzki and David Price changed the atmosphere in Toronto from one of what-if to we will, and you don’t see such drastic changes like what went down make such a major impact so immediately.

And then there’s the Dodgers.

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Instead of dealing for an ace — which, they were a potential landing spot for David Price — or getting some other big free agency name, the Dodgers bet on themselves and made smaller changes to a team that hopes they can make it deep less than two months from now.

In Toronto’s situation, it was more of looking at how they can boost their own play rather than how can we get help from other clubs.

With the Dodgers, things couldn’t be more different.

While yeah, there’s a good chance they’ll end up on top of the NL West, it never hurts to have insurance.

The Chicago Cubs are doing just that for Los Angeles.

Chicago may not even be in the NL West, but they are playing a big role in who gets one of the Wild Card berths — a dark horse position becoming more and more dangerous as the game continues to grow.

The defending champion Giants have been chasing pretty hard after the Dodgers for the lead in their division, but the reality might be that they’ll need to be one of the Wild Cards to see playoff baseball.

But that’s just fine with them, they won a World Series that way last year.

You’ve gotta give credit where credit is due, though, so let’s take a moment to thank the Cubs for not being the laughingstock of the league anymore.

Okay, sorry, that was a little rough, Cubs fans.

But it’s never been easy playing in the NL Central.

Ever.

It’s a group that involves the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cincinnati Reds as the front-runners.

Not to mention that all of those teams can turn it on at a moment’s notice and leave the others in the dust.

As it stands right now, the Pirates and Cubs would be in the Wild Card slots if the season ended today.

San Francisco is close behind Chicago though, finding themselves less than four games from getting in.

The Giants are also three games flat behind the Dodgers for a better playoff position, but that could be harder to catch, knowing that the Dodgers are still one of baseball’s elite teams if you’ve got Clayton Kershaw or Zack Grienke on the mound.

Bottom Line: Cubs could hold keys to a late LA playoff run.

It’s not to come down on the Cubs, they’ve done great so far, but for a team that’s seen famous moments elude them before, all they have to do is keep their head on straight.

Because if they do that, it’s almost like everybody wins.

Potential? Absolutely.

Possible? Sure.

But actions always speak louder than words or stat sheets.