Gamecast: August 25th vs. Nationals

Garrett Mock (2-5, 5.10 ERA) vs. Carlos Zambrano (7-4, 3.35 ERA) Story LinesThe Cubs are facing the very real fact that they will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2007. Baring a 10-game winning streak, the Cubs will have a tough time overtaking the 8-game lead the Cardinals have in the NL-Central and the 7.5-game lead the Rockies have in the Wild Card. That being said, the Cubs have a great chance to gain some ground with the Nationals in town. The Cubs really need to sweep, and hopefully pick up a few games. In reality they need to be within 4 games when the Cardinals series in St. Louis takes place. That means they need to pick up four games over thier next 22. Since the Cubs have played four less games, that means they really need to win all of those four, and find a way to pick up two more games. Will that happen? We've seen bad play after bad series, but the Cubs are probably playing their weakest stretch of opponents of the season with dates against the Mets,...