AP Photo/Colin Hubbard

The Rundown: Cubs Counting on Cade to Stop Losing Streak, Hendricks Addresses Retirement Plans, ABS Challenge System Coming Next Season

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterSeptember 23, 2025

“Good men through the ages tryin’ to find the sun.” – Who’ll Stop the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival

The Cubs need Cade Horton to be a stopper tonight, and if Horton can get Chicago back in the win column, he deserves to be the team’s Game 1 starter against the Padres next week. The Cubs desperately need a win because of the team’s crushing post-clinch letdown while San Diego continues to surge. The Padres enter tonight’s tilt with the Brewers carrying a three-game winning streak while the Cubs dropped four straight to the Reds. Cincinnati and San Diego are the only NL teams playing with any sense of urgency. The rest of the playoff contenders are dragging ass to the regular season finish line.

One of those laggards is the Mets, who come to Wrigley Field for a three-game set with an 18-30 (.375) record since the trade deadline. It would behoove Horton and the Cubs to kick that corpse a little further down the road. Horton has been baseball’s best pitcher for the better part of two months and could end the Rookie of the Year conversation with another stellar performance.

Horton’s major league debut came against the Metropolitans on May 10, but Craig Counsell elected to pitch Brad Keller as an opener. You can’t blame Counsell for that. Nobody knew Horton would be this good, and having the rookie avoid the top three of New York’s order — Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso — is just good baseball. The rookie won’t need protection this evening, not after pitching to a 0.93 ERA in 11 second-half starts.

One win isn’t enough, however. The Cubs need to find some semblance of momentum as they cruise into the playoffs. They’re certainly catching the Mets at the right time, and they close the season at home against the Cardinals, who have been phoning it in for a few weeks. That St. Louis is still in contention with a 77-80 record (30-41 since July 1) tells you just how middling the real contenders have played. The Padres have two games remaining against the Brewers, who are playing for home-field advantage through the National League playoffs, followed by a three-game set at home against the Diamondbacks to close out the regular season. Arizona trails the Mets and Reds by one game for the final postseason entry.

Cubs News & Notes

  • Horton has been Chicago’s most valuable pitcher in the second half, and has single-handedly carried the team into the playoffs.
  • Nobody knows when Kyle Tucker is expected to return, including Counsell. It will be interesting to see the manager’s postseason lineups if Tucker is unavailable. By the way, Owen Caissie hit a game-opening three-run homer in the deciding Game 3 of the 2022 High-A Midwest League Championship. His contact and hard-hit metrics should make him an easy choice, though Counsell usually prefers veterans.
  • Kyle Hendricks is reportedly hanging up his cleats after the end of this season. That’s according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
  • Hendricks told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register something different, however. The Professor said he will talk to his family about the future ($) once this season ends. “I’ve still got one more [start],” said Hendricks. “I’ll try and finish out as strong as I can. At the end of the season, I’ll always sit down and just see how I feel, talk to the family, see where everybody’s at.
  • This could be the first time in MLB history that five players hit 30 homers and stole 30 bases in the same season. Pete Crow-Armstrong needs one home run to join Soto, Corbin Carroll, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and José Ramírez in the 30/30 club.

Ball Four

The Cubs still need a couple more wins before October baseball returns to Chicago. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Central Intelligence

  • Milwaukee (95-62): The Brewers clinched the NL Central over the weekend but lost starter Brandon Woodruff to a lat strain. Woodruff is eligible to return October 4, which coincides with the start of the NLDS, but that is considered a longshot.
  • Chicago (88-68): Shōta Imanaga will face the Mets on Thursday with a chance to earn his 10th win of the season. That would give the Cubs five pitchers with 10 or more wins for the first time since 2016. That team was led by Jon Lester (19-5), Jake Arrieta (18-8), Hendricks (16-8), Jason Hammel (15-10), and John Lackey (11-8).
  • Cincinnati (80-76): After sweeping the Cubs, the Reds finally control their postseason destiny. Cincinnati’s magic number is six thanks to MLB’s tiebreaker rules.
  • St. Louis (77-80): The Cardinals’ 2025 home attendance is down one million fans as compared to 2023, and is at its lowest total since 1995, the shortened, post-lockout season that eventually birthed the Sammy Sosa – Mark McGwire home run chase three seasons later.
  • Pittsburgh (67-89): Paul Skenes says 2025 will be a “wasted year” unless the Pirates’ front office learns from its mistakes.

Wild Pitch

“Left me stranded, took away my pride. Just another no account fatality.” – Couldn’t Get It Right by Climax Blues Band

The race for the final Wild Card berth is essentially down to three teams, including Cincinnati, barring two or three late-season tragedies. The Padres will be WC1 or WC2 depending upon what happens this week, and if the Cubs and Friars end up tied, the top seed will come down the battle of divisional records. Chicago is 27-22 against its NL Central opponents with three games left against the Cardinals. San Diego is 29-20 against its NL West opponents with three games left against the Diamondbacks. The Cubs are 5-5 against St. Louis this year, while the Padres are 5-5 against Arizona. Yes, those four losses to Cincinnati really hurt.

One game separates the Reds, Mets, and Diamondbacks with six games to play. Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker over New York and Arizona.

How About That!

The Guardians are this year’s Cinderella story. They control their destiny with three games left against the Tigers starting tonight. Cleveland trailed Detroit by 15.5 games on July 9, and now one game currently separates the two teams in the standings. The division loser could be eliminated as a Wild Card entry by the Astros. The Guardians have won six of 10 games against the Tigers this season.

If the Guardians win the division, it would be the greatest comeback in MLB history, eclipsing the Yankees’ 14-game deficit in 1978 to overcome the Boston Red Sox. The ’78 AL East title was determined by a one-game playoff, commonly referred to as the Bucky Dent game.

MLB’s qualifying offer will increase to about $22 million from $21.05 million of a year ago.

The league is also implementing the ABS challenge system for the 2026 season.

Extra Innings

Chicago’s bullpen enters tonight’s game with a 1.98 September ERA. Expect Horton to go no more than 5-6 innings against the Mets. If you’re looking for edge, New York has a .584 road OPS since September 8, and Mets starter David Peterson has allowed 23 earned runs in his last 23 innings pitched. The Cubs also hit lefties very well.

Apropos of Nothing

Ben Johnson’s victory rally is the talk of Chicago and rightfully so. Hell, I’d run through a brick wall for the Bears’ rookie head coach.

They Said It

  • “You want to go into the playoffs with momentum. It’s going to be exciting to play in front of the Wrigley fans again, especially since we clinched a spot on the road. We have something to play for. We’re looking forward to resting, recharging, and hitting Wrigley hard this week and hopefully locking up home-field advantage.” – Jameson Taillon
  • “Well, we’ve lost. The first night we had a great game pitched against us. I don’t think we swung the bats great the last two nights. And I don’t think we’ve pitched great the last two nights. So that’s about it.” – Counsell

Tuesday Walk-Up Song

It would be nice to clinch that top Wild Card seed before the weekend set against the Cardinals. The Cubs have given up 3.5 games to the Padres since Thursday.

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterSeptember 23, 2025
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