Cubs now tied for wild-card spot after Sunday's win over Braves

From the very beginning, players and coaches have believed the 2023 Cubs are capable of big things.

Catcher Yan Gomes had no qualms expressing that optimism in early April when he proclaimed: "I feel like we've built a team that from top to bottom can really do this."

It sounded great when the Cubs jetted out to a 12-7 start, but then manager David Ross' squad went on numerous tailspins to plummet to 26-36 on June 8.

The playoffs seemed like a far-flung fantasy.

Yet, here were are two months later and guess what?

The Cubs, who defeated the Atlanta Braves 6-4 at Wrigley Field on Sunday to complete an incredibly impressive 5-2 homestand, are now tied with Cincinnati for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

"It was a great homestand," said right fielder Mike Tauchman. "The National League is kind of running through the Braves right now.

"It's a really good team over there. For us to get a series win over them ... it's evidence that if we execute the way that we can, we can compete with anybody."

Sunday's game was a perfect microcosm of the Cubs' recent success.

After the Braves took a 2-0 lead on Matt Olson's 39th home run in the third inning, the Cubs immediately tied the game on an RBI groundout by Ian Happ and a bases-loaded walk by Dansby Swanson.

Olson's RBI single in the fifth allowed the Braves to reclaim the lead, but no matter.

Tauchman (2-for-5) led off the fifth with a single, stole second and scored on Happ's RBI single. Cody Bellinger then smoked an RBI double, and newcomer Jeimer Candelario laced an RBI single to center to make it 5-3.

"Man, just relentless at-bats," Ross said. "The walks just seemed to fuel us. Creating traffic, stealing a base here or there, putting the pressure on the defense. And some timely hitting."

Of course, everyone knew Atlanta wasn't done. Not with that lineup.

Sure enough, Cubs starter Justin Steele (13-3) walked the first two batters of the sixth inning, then allowed a one-out single to No. 9 hitter Michael Harris II. That ended Steele's day after a career-high 110 pitches.

Reliever Michael Fulmer then hit Acuna with a pitch to force in a run to make it 5-4.

The next two hitters - Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley - have combined to hit 51 home runs, so at that point you're thinking Fulmer could be in trouble.

But the big righty settled down and struck out both Braves sluggers.

"Albies had a great at-bat," said Fulmer, who got Albies looking on a gorgeous backdoor slider. "Lot of foul balls. I didn't want to get to a full count with him because he's got a pretty good eye at the plate. Just trying to pump in strikes and not nibble too much. ...

"Obviously Riley's having a monster season as well. ... He put a couple good swings on a slider and had a couple takes. The full-count fastball (call) by (catcher Miguel Amaya) was the right choice. Miggy's been unbelievable this whole season so far."

The Cubs are 15-4 in their last 19 games and 58-54 overall. Not only are they in a wild-card spot, but they're also only 1.5 games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Now we'll see if they can keep this momentum going against the flagging Mets, who have lost six straight.

"Momentum's a powerful thing," Ross said. "When you're winning, you just start to expect to win and find a way. The focus just ticks up a little bit more.

"It's just not shocking to me. That's a really good team we just played. That's a really good homestand we just had. And I'm proud of that.

"But we've got a lot of work to do. There's a long way to go."