Unable to derail the New York Mets' playoff charge, the Washington Nationals will get an opportunity to eliminate the Chicago Cubs from the National League race as the clubs begin a four-game series at Wrigley Field on Thursday night.
Coming off a disappointing two-games-to-one home-series loss to the Oakland Athletics, the Cubs (77-75) are seven games out of the final NL wild-card spot with just 10 to play. They could be eliminated by the end of MLB action on Friday.
The Nationals (68-84) could have helped the Cubs' plight in a just-completed three-game set against the New York Mets but were competitive only once - in a 2-1, 10-inning loss on Monday - before getting bombarded 10-1 and 10-0 the past two days.
The Nationals will begin the Cubs' series with their hottest pitcher on the mound. Left-hander Patrick Corbin (6-13, 5.45 ERA) has gone 4-1 in his past five starts, during which his ERA has improved from 5.92 to 5.45.
The 35-year-old has a history of success over his career against the Cubs, having gone 5-2 with a 4.09 ERA in 12 head-to-heads, 11 of which have been starts. Six of those starts have come at Wrigley Field, where Corbin is 3-1 but with a 5.24 ERA.
Corbin, who has led or shared the NL lead in losses each of the last three seasons, is proud of the way his season is finishing, even though he's still in line to four-peat in the distinction, as his 13 losses are the most in the league again.
Teammates MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin are right behind him with 12 losses each.
"At times, it's been frustrating," Corbin said of his Nationals career, during which he has a 47-77 record in six seasons. "You try to go out there and do your best, and things don't go your way. I think I've just located a lot better (lately), have gotten some more strikeouts, which helps."
The Cubs, who likely will need to sweep the series to remain alive in the NL wild-card chase, have scheduled right-hander Javier Assad (7-5, 3.27 ERA) for the series opener.
The 27-year-old has started Cubs losses in his last two outings, allowing a total of six runs (five runs) over 11 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees and Colorado Rockies.
His most recent win came against the Nationals, a 5-3 road victory on Aug. 31 in which he went six innings, allowing three runs. He's 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career meetings with Washington.
The Cubs took 7-6, 5-3 and 14-1 wins over the Nationals in the nation's capital in a series that bridged August and September. However, Chicago has gone just 6-9 since then, losing consecutive games on four different occasions.
The Cubs enter this series on a two-game skid. Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson says his team is demoralized but not done.
"Obviously, earlier in the year we had a different expectation," he said. "That's just the reality of the situation right now. We've got 10 games left to make something happen."
