The Chicago Cubs might have a massive uphill battle ahead of them if they want to get into the playoffs, but that isn't going to stop them from trying.
Instead of trading away their best assets at the deadline, the front office actually added a much needed piece in Isaac Paredes to upgrade their third base position. While he might be struggling right now, that signaled the front office wasn't ready to completely give up on this season.
So far, the team has responded.
They have won 13 out of their last 20 games, all of a sudden putting them 5.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot with an incredibly weak schedule to close out the month of September.
Whenever a team has a small margin of error, they can't afford to drop games they should be winning, and after the second inning against the Miami Marlins on Friday, it looked like this might be one of those contests when the Cubs were trailing 1-0.
Then, as the first batter in the top of the third inning, Chicago's young star Pete Crow-Armstrong electrified the ballpark when he hit an inside the park home run to tie things at one apiece.
The Cubs went on to score two more runs that frame, giving them a lead that helped them build a cushion to survive a late push by the Marlins before ultimately winning 6-3.
While Crow-Armstrong's homer was important for the result of this game, the speed in which he ran the bases also put him into the record books.
Chicago knew he was fast, but that was a serious display of speed.
Beyond the electric play that Crow-Armstrong provided, there have also been some signs that the former top prospect is starting to figure things out at the plate.
In 19 games through the month of August, he's slashing .288/.333/.559 with three homers, eight extra-base hits and eight RBI.
Despite what the early portion of his career in the MLB would suggest, the 22-year-old has been able to hit at every level he's been apart of, so it was only a matter of time before that would start to become a reality in The Show.
He still has to do it for a prolonged stretch, but if he can add a reliable offensive aspect to his already elite defensive game, then he'll be one of the best outfielders in the MLB for a long time.
