The Chicago Cubs fell to the Atlanta Braves 6-5 in extra innings on Tuesday night, placing them one game closer to postseason elimination. Chicago has now botched two winnable games in a row with their backs against the wall, bringing them dead even with the Miami Marlins in the NL standings.
On Tuesday night, the blame was squarely placed on Seiya Suzuki when he allowed two runs to score on a costly error in right-center field. The Cubs were well positioned for a bounce-back victory over the Braves on Wednesday — with a little help from the Ump Show — but Atlanta surged late behind the powerful bat of Marcell Ozuna and forced extra innings.
For a minute, the Cubs looked to be on the verge of escaping still, taking a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the 10th. Then it went to s***, with Ronald Acuña Jr. stealing his 70th base of the season before scoring the winning run on an Ozzie Albies line drive to right field.
The Braves now have home-field advantage through the NLCS and Acuña is the sole proprietor of the 40-70 club. Chicago is reeling, with only four games left to separate themselves from Miami and Cincinnati in the congested standings.
Let's place some blame for this debacle.
No. 3 Chicago Cubs player to blame for loss to Braves: David Ross
Okay, not a player — but every bit as essential, if not more so, to the Cubs' success. David Ross has done a tremendous job leading Chicago out of an early-season hole and into postseason contention, but he has to take a decent chunk of the blame for the Cubs' untimely slide.
He completely botched the bullpen in this game (more on that in a second), allowing the Braves to storm from behind in the ninth and 10th innings. Atlanta has the best collection of hitters in the MLB, but all the same, Ross' inability to pick the right matchups on the mound has to earn him low marks for this game.
If the Cubs end up slipping out of the postseason, Ross will be the first person who has to answer the question of why.
No. 2 Chicago Cubs player to blame for loss to Braves: Nico Hoerner
Nico Hoerner has been solid in his fifth season with the Cubs, reliable at the plate (.285/.350/.387) and reasonably competent opposite Dansby Swanson at second base. That said, he deserves blame for this loss. He's 1-for-9 in his last two games, including a costly 0-for-5 nothingburger in the two-hole Wednesday night.
He also made a throwing error in the seventh inning, botching a potential double play and allowing a Braves run to cross home (a run that, ultimately, proved to be quite important).
It was Hoerner's ninth error of the season. It's one thing to have a cold night at the plate, but fielding errors at this point in the season can mean the difference between competing for a World Series and watching with a pumpkin-spiced latte from the comfort of home.
No. 3 Chicago Cubs player to blame for loss to Braves: Mark Leiter Jr.
We can blame the entire bullpen, really. And David Ross for his decision-making on that front. If we're going to single out one player in particular, however, it has to be Mark Leiter Jr. He gave up the game-tying bomb to Marcell Ozuna in the ninth, which set the stage for the 10th inning heartbreak to come.
It's as simple as that.
We could also point the finger at Daniel Palencia for giving up the final hit to Albies (and accruing his third loss of the season), but he wouldn't be in that position if Leiter had taken care of business the inning beforehand. It's a chicken-egg debate, but in this case it's exceedingly apparent which came first.