RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 3 sourcesToday’s Reflections
What an interesting way to end a series — consecutive extra-inning games. With the Manfred Man, the 10th inning is a toss-up, which was evident as the Cubs and Cardinals split the games in extra time (World Cup, go away!) . That gave Chicago the three-games-to-one win in the series.
The MVP of the series has to be Alex Bregman, who really stepped up to be the team’s table setter, going 10-for-18 with a walk, seven runs scored, 3 RBI, a home run and six doubles. For Wednesday and Thursday, he combined for 3-for-8 with a walk, two runs scored, two doubles and an RBI, including his game-winning RBI-double on Thursday.
Nico Hoerner also had a big series, going 6-for-16 with three runs scored, six RBI, a home run and a stolen base. After having a hitless pinch-hitting appearance on Wednesday on a day-off, Hoerner went 3-for-5 with the stolen base on Thursday.
Seiya Suzuki had a solid series, also going 6-for-16 with three walks, four runs scored, two RBI and two doubles. Most of that was in the first two games as he went for 1-for-6 with two walks and a run scored in the final two.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ get mentions for their extra-inning contributions. PCA drove in two runs with a home run in the 10th inning on Wednesday, while on Thursday, Happ added an insurance run with an RBI-double.
The Cubs had a 5-2 roadtrip. PCA had a drastically different pair of series. Against the Pirates, he went 7-for-14 with a walk, four runs scored, five RBI, two home runs, three doubles and a triple. Meanwhile, in the Cardinals’ series, PCA went 3-for-17 with just one walk, a run scored, 3 RBI, and the home run as his only extra-base hit.
I bring that up because the Cubs took three-of-four from the Cards without much contribution from PCA. If that sinks in for the rest of the team, that has to be an extra boost for them. And I’m sure PCA noticed it for sure.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the Cubs almost wasted a pair of pitching performances — one excellent and one solid. Both kept the Cubs in the games with a chance to win in extras.
Matthew Boyd put together what I think was his best performance of the year Wednesday with seven shutout innings, stranding four hits and two walks while striking out five. That’s the first time since April that he’s pitched back-to-back homerless games.
Javier Assad also kept the ball in the ballpark as he stepped into the open spot in the Cubs rotation Thursday. He managed 4.1 innings and had to work out of some jams due to allowing six hits and two walks. Assad used his defense and six strikeouts hold the Cards to one run. His 83 pitches were the most he has thrown since June 17th.
So it was a good series and road trip with two winnable games the team dropped. But there were a lot of overall very positive performances for the team to build on heading into the dog days of August.
*means autoplay on , ( directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome ). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.
Thurday’s Game Stories:
Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (7/30/26): Cubs 4, Cardinals 2 F/10 – Extra-Inning Win Takes Series in St. Louis . “The Cubs and Cardinals played a very tight contest at Busch Stadium Thursday afternoon that required extra innings for the second consecutive day.”
View Link
View Link
Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Bregman’s 10th-inning double helps Cubs take series from rival Cardinals . “With a pair of two-base hits on Thursday, Bregman finished the series with a 10-for-18 showing (.556 average) that included seven extra-base hits and seven runs scored.”
View Link
View Link
Wednesday’s Game Stories:
Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): PCA’s tiebreaking blast can’t save Cubs from 10th-inning loss . “Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a must-see moment for the Cubs when they needed it most, but the Cardinals found their way to three runs in the 10th inning to send Chicago to a 3-2 loss in walk-off fashion.”
View Link
Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (7/29/26): Cardinals 3, Cubs 2 F/10 – PCA Homer Not Enough in Extras Loss . “The Cubs and Cardinals played a full nine innings that were largely uneventful on Wednesday night, with no runs crossing the plate. ”
View Link
Down-the-Stretch Trade Deadline Stories:
Skubal Stories:
Paul Sullivan (Chicago Sun-Times): Column: If Tarik Skubal truly is on the Chicago Cubs’ radar, the only question is ‘How soon is now?’ “History suggests they’ll shoot for the moon, settle for a middle-of-the-road starter and keep the prospects, explaining later that the price was too exorbitant.”
Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs’ trade-deadline search for pitching includes Tarik Skubal: Sources . “Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has a close relationship with his Detroit counterpart, Scott Harris.”
Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs On SI): Are the Cubs Fully Back in On a Tarik Skubal Blockbuster Trade? “The Chicago Cubs were seemingly out on pursuing one of the biggest names on the market, but a new report suggests that’s not the case at all.”
Peralta/Holmes/Mets Stories:
Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Mets-Twins trade confirms the easiest need Cubs can address at 2026 trade deadline . “The New York Mets’ trade with the Minnesota Twins involving A.J. Minter is a good sign for one thing the Chicago Cubs want to accomplish at the MLB trade deadline.”
Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs predicted to trade for Mets’ 2.39 ERA starting pitcher amid dire need . “This Cubs prediction would make a lot of sense amid the team’s dire deadline need.”
Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal, Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs in deadline mix for Freddy Peralta as Mets seek top-100 prospect in trade: Sources . “Peralta was scratched from his scheduled start Friday night as his trade market he...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.