CUBS 5, CARDINALS 1
ST. LOUIS -- The last time the Cubs went to the postseason three consecutive years was in 1906-08. The World Series champions won the National Central for the second consecutive year with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
Under .500 and trailing Milwaukee in the division race at the All-Star break, the Cubs turned things around with a stellar second half.
"It was tough," starter John Lackey said. "It's always a challenge and we got a lot of people's best shots. We played well and we're back in the playoffs and we'll see what happens."
Addison Russell hit a three-run home run and Lackey pitched six strong innings for Chicago.
The Cubs are the first defending World Series champion to win their division the next season since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies and the first defending champion to reach the playoffs the next season since the Cardinals won the wild card in 2012.
"It's fun to be a team that people want to beat," Cubs infielder Kris Bryant said. "We embrace that and we're going to go with that for as long as we can. It feels good right now knowing they (the Cardinals) always beat up on us before and now we're able to kind of get of a taste of that, too."
The Cubs became the second visiting team to celebrate a title at Busch Stadium III. The 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers won the NLDS at St. Louis.
"It's a blessing to be in a situation to win a World Series on a team and win a division in a tough division the very next year," Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward said. "That's not my plan. That's someone else's plan there. It just happened to be here. Fans, rivalry, whatever, it is what it is, but I know we had a lot of fun competing."
Lackey (12-11) retired the final 10 batters he faced. The former Cardinal and three-time World Series winner struck out 3 and gave up 2 hits and 2 walks.
"I've got to keep telling these kids (young Cubs players) 'Don't take anyone of these for granted. You never know if it's your last one,' " Lackey said. "If you start thinking this is something easy, it's time for you to go home."
Six Cubs relievers combined for three scoreless innings.
Cardinals starter Michael Wacha needed just 60 pitches to cruise through the first 6 innings, striking out 8, before running into trouble in the seventh. Anthony Rizzo and Bryant started the inning with singles and Russell drove a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.
Wacha (12-9) was chased after allowing the first six Cubs to reach base in the seventh. Heyward and Tommy La Stella had RBI doubles as the Cubs sent 10 batters to the plate against three St. Louis pitchers.
Paul DeJong's single scored Jedd Gyorko to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the second.
Former Cub Dexter Fowler came to the plate with the bases loaded as the tying run in the eighth, but Carl Edwards Jr. got him to fly weakly to right field, ending the Cardinals' threat.
The loss drops the Cardinals elimination number to one.
Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny didn't watch the Cubs' celebration.
"Usually when I watch we don't have any more games to play," Matheny said. "We're getting ready for tomorrow. When I watch in the playoffs, it's because our season was over. Our season is not over."
The Cubs will draw Washington in the NLDS, but Lackey isn't focused on the Nationals yet.
"I think we're going to have a good time tonight," Lackey said. "I don't really care about the Nationals."
ROCKIES 15, MARLINS 9 Ian Desmond hit a three-run home run as part of a six-run second inning and playoff-chasing Colorado beat visiting Miami.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, GIANTS 3 David Peralta capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning by drawing a one-out, bases-loaded walk, giving host Arizona a victory over San Francisco.
PHILLIES 7, NATIONALS 5 Aaron Altherr went 2-for-4 with a triple, drove in two runs and scored the go-ahead run as Philadelphia beat visiting Washington.
METS 7, BRAVES 1 Terry Collins was a winner in perhaps his final home game as New York manager as his team beat visiting Atlanta behind rookie pitcher Robert Gsellman.
REDS 6, BREWERS 0 Milwaukee rookie Brandon Woodruff was chased in a five-run third inning and host Milwaukee's postseason hopes took another hit when it fell to last-place Cincinnati.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ASTROS 12, RANGERS 2 Justin Verlander struck out 11 to win his fifth consecutive start since getting traded to the Astros, major league batting leader Jose Altuve reached 200 hits for the fourth consecutive season, and visiting Houston completed a dominating three-game sweep of Texas.
ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 5 Mark Canha hit a game-ending home run in the ninth inning to lead host Oakland past Seattle.
YANKEES 6, RAYS 1 Luis Severino cruised through his final postseason tuneup and Starlin Castro, Greg Bird and Aaron Hicks all homered during a four-run sixth inning, lifting New York over visiting Tampa Bay.
INDIANS 4, TWINS 2 Minnesota missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot on their own as Danny Salazar gave host Cleveland's brain trust more to consider with a strong start and Yan Gomes homered, lifting the Indians to a victory. But the Twins locked up an AL wild-card spot later in the evening when the Angels lost to the White Sox.
RED SOX 10, BLUE JAYS 7 Reigning AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello struggled in his final playoff tuneup, and David Price relieved him to solidify his role on the postseason roster as Boston beat visiting Toronto and lowered its magic number to two.
WHITE SOX 6, ANGELS 4 (10) Nicky Delmonico hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give host Chicago a victory that eliminated Los Angeles from playoff contention.
ROYALS 7, TIGERS 4 Paulo Orlando hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, as Kansas City rallied from a three-run deficit to beat visiting Detroit, the Tigers' ninth consecutive loss.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 5, ORIOLES 3 Josh Bell hit a two-run home run and host Pittsburgh beat Baltimore to sweep a two-game interleague series.
Sports on 09/28/2017