Almost Completely Useless Before October

Given the opportunity to reach out and -- if not wrest the first wild-card spot from the Pirates, then at least to get asymptotically close to it, the Cubs have instead dropped the first two games of this critical series at home.

They have managed to clinch the second wild-card spot, backing into it when the Giants lost last night, but it would be nice to be seeing a bit more carpe diem out of them.

It would also be nice to see the Pirates lose some games, because a three-game lead for the Cardinals remains uncomfortably close, especially with Carlos Martinez going down with a shoulder sprain last night.

*sigh*