ATLANTA — The only outcome the Chicago Cubs could not allow to transpire against the Atlanta Braves this week at Truist Park was being a handed a three-game sweep.

Two one-run losses, featuring a two-run error on a dropped fly ball by Seiya Suzuki in the opener and three blown saves in a 10-inning defeat in Game 2, and an underwhelming all-around performance in the series finale created a worst-case scenario for the Cubs and their postseason hopes.

[ [Don’t miss] Column: Bullpen collapses in the midst of a playoff race are nothing new for the Chicago Cubs — and their fans ]

The Braves completed the sweep Thursday, handing the Cubs a 5-3 loss and complicating the North Siders’ path to securing the third National League wild-card position.

The Cubs fell a half-game behind the Miami Marlins for the No. 3 spot, pending the Marlins’ result late Thursday against the Mets in New York. That game at Citi Field went into a rain delay at 8:41 p.m. CDT with two outs in the top of the ninth after Miami erased the Mets’ one-run lead to go ahead 2-1 in the inning. The Marlins own the tiebreaker against the Cubs, who finish the season with three games against the Brewers in Milwaukee beginning Friday.

The Cubs (82-77) likely will need to sweep the Brewers to have a shot at making the playoffs. It’s a precipitous decline from their position three weeks ago when their odds to reach the postseason were at 92.4%, according to FanGraphs. Following Thursday’s loss, the odds dropped to 17.8%.

“We just seem defeated at times, you know?” said Marcus Stroman after he lasted two innings Thursday against the Braves. “Things don’t feel like they’re going our way at all. I feel like everything that could be going wrong is going wrong. So hopefully wash it on this trip and hopefully luck starts to be in our favor in Milwaukee.

“I don’t think the confidence is dinged. I just think, like I said, things just aren’t going our way and it’s very apparent. I mean, you could feel that and you can see when things aren’t going your way. … Everyone still knows we can get the job done.”

The Cubs’ best chance for a late rally against the Braves came in the eighth. Three of their first four hitters reached on singles, with Seiya Suzuki’s third hit of the night driving in Nico Hoerner to cut the deficit to two. But Dansby Swanson, in the biggest moment, couldn’t deliver the clutch hit. Ahead 2-0 in the count against Braves lefty A.J. Minter, Swanson couldn’t take advantage of a cutter down the middle and hit into an inning-ending double play.

It continues a rough two-month stretch for Swanson, who hasn’t provided the consistent offensive production the Cubs have needed, especially down the stretch.

“We’ve got to go out and play good ball, I mean, we’ve got three opportunities left to win some baseball games and see what happens at the end,” Swanson said. “We talk about how we bounce back this, that and the other, like, we’ve done it all year and we don’t really have any options so we’ll come out and be ready to go tomorrow.”

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Added Ian Happ: “You have no choice. That’s what you’ve got to do. You play this game as hard as you can and see where it shakes out. But it doesn’t change the mentality that we have to go. Play our best brand of baseball tomorrow.”

Stroman didn’t get past the second inning to end his regular season, allowing four hits and four runs (two earned) to squander a 1-0 first-inning lead from Mike Tauchman’s nifty footwork at the plate when he leaped to avoid catcher Travis d’Arnaud’s tag.

Matt Olson’s two-run homer in the first and a two-run second behind Michael Harris II’s RBI double and Ronald Acuña Jr.’s two-out RBI single put the Cubs in catch-up mode early. Happ’s dropped fly ball for a two-base error in the second contributed to the Braves’ damage.

Stroman’s season was a tale of two halves with his June 20 start serving as the divider. Before his London Series outing that was cut short by a blister, Stroman posted a 2.28 ERA, .191 average against and 98 2/3 innings in 16 starts to help him make the National League All-Star team. After London, Stroman recorded a 8.29 ERA, .315 average against and 38 innings in 11 games/nine starts. His six-week stint on the injured list because of right hip inflammation and right rib cartilage fracture did not help.

“It was frustrating ever since the second half,” Stroman said. “I felt like I never bounced back (from the hip injury). … It was just a weird year in the second half.”

Thursday’s brief start could represent Stroman’s last in a Cubs uniform. He has an opt-out in his contract that would make him a free agent this offseason. If he stays, Stroman would earn $21 million in 2024, the final season of the three-year, $71 million contract he signed with the Cubs in December 2021.

“I haven’t processed that yet to be honest with you,” Stroman said. “There’s so much that happened. So we’ll see how it plays out. Definitely not looking too far into the future just yet.”

Originally Published: Sep 28, 2023 at 9:37 pm

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County mother sat down with her son’s high school principal to demand answers after he was attacked in the school’s restroom while more than 20 others watched.

At least 22 boys were in the restroom at Cedar Grove High School vaping when a fight broke out and one boy was violently attacked.

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Stephanie Barnes sat down exclusively with Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes after she recorded a conversation with the principal.

She details the principal’s response, including why he “doesn’t have time” to stop them, NEXT on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m.

District administrators shared a statement with Fernandes that read in part,

”…Since the incident, Cedar Grove High School has implemented extra security protocols and monitoring to reduce bathroom overcrowding before and during school hours…”

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Another popular restaurant chain could be headed to metro Atlanta and Georgia, this time slinging Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. Suburban Chicago-based Portillo’s is eyeing the Atlanta area and state of Georgia for expansion in the Southeast, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

While specific locations have yet to be targeted, or an exact ETA given for opening the first Portillo’s, the company is considering opening between six and eight restaurants within a metropolitan area in the state. In addition to Georgia, Portillo’s is setting its sights on Houston, Nevada, and Colorado for new locations over the next year. Portillo’s opened its first Dallas location in January, where hour-long lines stretched around the block even a month after opening at the Grandscape in the Colony.

Unfamiliar with Portillo’s? It all started in 1963 with Dick Portillo and his hot dog stand in Villa Park in the Chicago suburbs. Since that time, Portillo’s has grown into a multi-location, billon-dollar restaurant chain serving Chicago-style hot dogs (yellow mustard, relish, celery salt, chopped onions, tomatoes, pickle spear, and peppers), chili dogs, and Italian beef sandwiches (like from the Bear), along with cheese fries, shakes, and chocolate cake. Whether or not these hot dogs are actually worth the drive in Atlanta traffic or time spent standing in line remains to be seen.

Portillo’s is just the latest popular restaurant chain to expand to Atlanta and Georgia, which now includes New York-based Shake Shack and Texas-based burger chain Whataburger. The Kennesaw debut of Whataburger last November saw traffic backed up onto Townpark Lane for the drive-thru and lines out the door to order at the counter for weeks. Police even ended up directing traffic during its first few days open. Similar lines occurred for the openings of Whataburger in Woodstock and Newnan.

Vegan restaurant chain Planta opened in June at Krog Street Market, taking over the former Watchman’s Seafood and Spirits space. A location of Texas-based chain Shipley Do-Nuts is now open in Cumming, with another location headed to Duluth, while locations of Florida-based doughnut chain the Salty are now open in Buckhead and the Old Fourth Ward.

Canadian-based coffee and sandwich chain Tim Hortons should open across from the Varsity in Midtown soon. And wildly popular northeastern convenience store chain Wawa also plans to open its first location in Georgia by 2024. Wawa is known for its hoagies, Sizzlis breakfast sandwiches, and the chain’s coffee. The company indicated as many as 20 new stores could open around Georgia in the next decade, likely in “southern and coastal” areas of the state near I-95.