Cubs Relying on Jose Quintana With Backs Against the Wall is Poetic Justice

With the regular season coming to an end next week, the Chicago Cubs have found themselves out of a Wild Card spot, as they're now two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs have been in a rough patch as of late, having lost their last four games to the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. If they want to salvage their season, the Cubs will need Jose Quintana to turn his recent rough patch around.

Quintana hit his stride with grace in August, pitching to a 2.02 ERA, with 39 strikeouts in 35.2 innings of work. However, thanks to a trio of bad starts in September, Quintana owns a 7.65 ERA in his last five appearances.

It would be one thing if the lefty was getting dominated by teams with incredible offensive talent. However, the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres are both bottom 10 offensive teams, and have put up a combined nine runs in Quintana's last 5 1/3 innings of work.

It's clear that the trade that sent Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez to the Chicago White Sox for Quintana has not worked out for the Cubs. However, you can't doubt that there is a better moment than right now for Quintana to prove the haters wrong.

Quintana has done well against the Cards this year, posting a 3.60 ERA in 10 innings of work against them. His best outing came at home, where he allowed just two runs in six innings of work. This should bode well for him, as he gets to work on his own home bump on Saturday.

Yes, Quintana's overall 4.37 ERA with a 1.34 WHIP shows that he is far from having a good year. Nevertheless, with two starts left, he still has time to get himself back on track and help the Cubs make the playoffs.