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The Cubs are in! Plus: Ken has notes on the futures of the Cardinals and Kyle Schwarber, we give you the latest playoff picture, and introduce you to a player whose big-league career lasted for just one pitch. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

Half of the NL playoff spots have been claimed: Brewers, Phillies and now the Cubs, whose 8-4 win yesterday over the Pirates clinched Chicago's first playoff berth since 2020.

It's hard to say what's more surprising: that the 88-64 Cubs won't win the NL Central, or that they had been a fairly unanimous pick to do so after a four-year playoff drought? But both of those questions seem a bit negative for a celebratory day, so let's move on.

Instead, let's look forward to the remaining questions for the Cubbies. Namely, what can they expect from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker in October?

But those are questions for another day. For now, Patrick Mooney has the story from the clincher, including an overview of the season that brought them here. And Jon Greenberg says after this season, the Cubs deserve to celebrate.

The expectation is that designated hitter Kyle Schwarber will remain with the Phillies. A four-year deal at $30-million plus per season seems realistic, in part because his leadership adds to his value. But there is no obvious free-agent precedent for Schwarber, who will be 33 at the start of next season.

Jim Thome, who, like Schwarber, was a left-handed slugger, signed a six-year, $85 million contract with the Phillies in Dec. 2002, entering his age 32 season. Teams, of course, were less preoccupied with aging curves nearly a quarter-century ago, and the dollars are greater now. But Thome went on to play 10 more seasons and hit 278 more homers, reaching 612 in his Hall of Fame career.

Schwarber won't necessarily do that, but over the past four seasons, only Aaron Judge has hit more home runs. Entering Wednesday, Judge was at 205, Schwarber 184, Shohei Ohtani 182 and Pete Alonso 155.

Changes coming for Cardinals

Infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan was the Cardinals' lone All-Star this season, but with only two years of club control remaining, he looms as a prime trade candidate.

As good an example as Donovan is for the Cardinals' younger players, he might depart as a free agent by the time the team is good again. One of the Cardinals' problems the past two years is that they've gone only halfway in rebuilding efforts. And it hasn't worked.

Then again, the Cardinals need to field a team next season, and can't simply trade everyone. Alec Burleson and Iván Herrera are two hitters they can build around. Shortstop Masyn Winn, a leading Gold Glove candidate with offensive upside, will undergo meniscus surgery in October, but is expected to be ready for spring training and is another keeper.

First baseman Willson Contreras has said he does not want to waive his no-trade clause. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar could be expendable if the Cardinals commit to Victor Scott II and/or Nathan Church. Jimmy Crooks heads the team's deep list of catching prospects, and top prospect JJ Wetherholt should fit somewhere in the team's infield.

Cardinals fans can take comfort in this much: While Chaim Bloom's four years in Boston were turbulent, the team's incoming head of baseball operations helped set up the Red Sox for their current success.

Under Bloom, the Red Sox drafted Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, two of the four players they traded for Garrett Crochet and their latest pitching callup, Connelly Early. Bloom also drafted the pitching prospect Craig Breslow later traded for Carlos Narváez, and acquired Wilyer Abreu from the Astros in a trade for Christian Vazquez.

More here.

It was another night with just so many developments in the playoff races. Those nine spots remain, and 14 teams are in contention. Let's do this.

AL East: All three contenders won last night (Boston in walk-off fashion) to keep things status quo. The Blue Jays are in maintenance mode, leading the division by four games over the Yankees ... who maintain a two-game lead over Boston ... who are tied for the second-and-third wild-card spot with Seattle ... 2.5 games ahead of Cleveland.

AL Central: Cleveland's pitching kept steamrolling. The Guardians beat the Tigers 4-0, and could sweep them with a win today. Cleveland is now just 4.5 games back in the division, and remains 2.5 behind Boston and Seattle for the third wild card.

AL West: With a 5-2 win over Jacob deGrom last night, the Astros did three things: First, with a 7-5 Mariners loss to the Royals, Houston re-took the division lead by a half-game. Second, they all but ended the Rangers' playoff hopes, sweeping them in a pivotal series. Third, they took the season series from Texas, gaining the tiebreaker advantage. (Also, it probably feels good to be state champs.)

NL East: The only intrigue remaining in this division: Will it have one or two representatives in the playoffs? The Mets lost 7-4 to the Padres last night, and are now just 1.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks for the final wild-card spot in the NL.

NL Central: With the playoff-clinching Cubs win, the only remaining questions are: How much longer until the Brewers lock down the division? (They beat the Angels 9-2 last night to keep their lead over Chicago at five games.) And can Cincinnati sneak in?

NL West: 42-year-old Justin Verlander has a 2.17 ERA in the second half. He didn't allow a run in seven innings against the Diamondbacks last night, and after going to extras tied 0-0, San Francisco won 5-1 in 11 innings, pulling to within a half-game of Arizona and two games behind the Mets for the last wild-card spot. The Dodgers avoided a sweep by shutting out the Phillies 4-0, and the Padres kept pace with their win over the Mets.

I'm not sure there's a topic I like more than a deep dive into a lesser-known player. This makes me the primary demographic for today's story by Steve Buckley, who went to Memphis to talk to Ralph Gagliano.

They call them "Cup of Coffee" players: guys who made it to the big leagues for just one game. But for Gagliano -- whose brother Phil played 12 big-league seasons -- the cup was mostly empty by the time it got to his lips.

Gagliano's big-league career lasted precisely one pitch in 1965. He pinch-ran, and was retired at second on a force play.

Buckley's article tells us about the circumstances that prevented Gagliano from making it back to the big leagues (among other things, a military draft). But he also introduces us to the man with the one-pitch career -- and the life that came after.

It also got me wondering ... Of the "Cup of Coffee" guys, who had the most and least experience? Four batters tied with six plate appearances (most recently Elvio Jiménez of the Yankees in 1964). On the pitching side, Monroe Swartz hurled 12 innings in his lone appearance for the Reds in 1920, allowing six runs on 17 hits.

But the least-experienced one-game pitcher was another player whose brother had a long career. Hall of Famer Robin Yount's older brother Larry is the only player whose career is shorter than Gagliano's. He was credited with an appearance for the Houston Astros in 1971, but never threw a pitch. His elbow began hurting and he was removed. One game, zero batters faced. More on him here.

My favorite read of the day: Tyler Kepner on the short career of an MLB game ball (spoiler: It's only slightly longer than Ralph Gagliano's). But Kepner also delves into the mud, the inspections and the tricks pitchers once used to affect the movement of pitches.

If you've booked your flight to London for the 2026 series between the Yankees and Blue Jays, you should check to see if your ticket is refundable. The series has been canceled due to scheduling conflicts.

Former Guardians, Reds, Mets and White Sox outfielder Tyler Naquin is the latest position player to give baseball one last shot ... on the mound.

Nick Kurtz of the A's is the AL Rookie of the Year favorite. The moment it all changed for him: that four-homer game against the Astros.

Keith Law hands out minor-league superlatives, including prospect of the year: Konnor Griffin of the Pirates.

On the pods:On Rates and Barrels, DVR, Jed and Eno discussed the triumphant return of Tungsten Arm O'Doyle -- this time in a Dodgers uni. Plus, is James Wood going to break the single-season strikeout record?

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Kepner on the late Robert Redford in "The Natural."

Nine playoff spots left after Cubs clinch, plus the shortest MLB career