– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — No matter where the Cubs’ 2024 season ends up after Game No. 162, they can always look back on the stretch of games from July 9-11 and fondly remember at least one time when the term “championship baseball” could be applied to their performances on the field. If the team had its druthers, of course, that penultimate series before the All-Star Break would serve as the turning point for a team that shook off its three-month-long doldrums to make a run at a National League playoff spot and pennant.
Time will only tell if the postseason is in the Cubs’ future, but the time they had in Baltimore — against a team that almost certainly will make the postseason and, going into Tuesday, owned the best record in the American League — is one no Cubbie will forget any time soon during the rest of the campaign.
Justin Steele threw seven scoreless innings while Seiya Suzuki had three run-scoring extra-base hits for Chicago, who trounced the Baltimore Orioles 8-0 on Thursday evening inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards to complete a three-game sweep of the AL East division leaders. Dansby Swanson homered for the first time since June 19 for Chicago, who became the first team to sweep the Orioles in Baltimore since the Tampa Bay Rays did so from August 27-29, 2021.
Not bad for a team that has not sported a winning record since May 28 and, just eight days ago, reached its low point this season in falling nine games under .500. But since July 4, when the offense awoke from its season-long slumber to score 10 runs in a win against the Phillies at Wrigley Field, the Cubs have won six of their last seven games and now reside just three games out of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
“It’s huge. It’s the kind of thing you need to be doing, especially the spot we’re in,” said Steele, whose ERA for the season is now 2.71, and an even more sterling 1.48 in his last nine starts. “But we’re feeling good. The boys are rolling right now. It’s fun.”
The sweep was made even more impressive by the fact that the Cubs, led by Steele and Imanaga, threw consecutive shutouts as a staff and, in the three games, outscored the Orioles by a whopping 21-2 margin. Baltimore, who has hit the most home runs in the league and is 15 dingers clear of the second-place team in that category (New York Yankees), managed just one homer in the series, a Jordan Westburg solo shot in the second inning during Tuesday’s series opener.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by New York-based photographer Gregory Fisher. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 48 pictures in total.
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