Cubs Teammates Have Suzuki's Back Despite Crucial Drop

Chicago Cubs teammates have come to the defense of Seiya Suzuki after he dropped a crucial ball in the outfield that would have gone a long way to help secure their playoff spot.

The Chicago Cubs head into Wednesday coming off of one of their most unthinkable losses of the season.

Once up 6-0, the Cubs blew the game, losing 7-6 to the Atlanta Braves after a leaky bullpen and a crucial drop by Seiya Suzuki in the eighth inning delivered a critical loss.

Now, Chicago has to figure out how to recover from that gut wrenching loss to get back on track and try to secure a playoff spot.

One way they're doing that is by not pointing the finger at Suzuki.

"Seiya’s been one of the best hitters in the league this whole month. He’s been carrying the team. We all support him and have his back," relief pitcher Drew Smyly told Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

It was Smyly's ball that Suzuki ultimately dropped.

After working through a sweaty inning that had runners on second and third with two outs, the left hander induced a lazy fly ball to right field that was a routine play for his outfielder.

That wasn't the case on Tuesday night as the ball hit the ground and the Braves scored two winning runs.

"Everybody's already picking him up. That's the kind of team we are. We're not worried about that. There's multiple things that happen in a game that could go a different way and the result of the game could end up being different. So everybody's on his side," their ace Justin Steele said.

It's an unfortunate low moment for Suzuki, who has been on a tear offensively.

In this game, he was 2-5 with a single, triple and two RBI, putting his slash line at .376/.433/.731 with 17 extra-base hits and 24 RBI during their 24 games in September.

The fact that the Cubs don't seem to be dwelling on the mistake is a good sign. Maybe they will be able to defy the odds once again and continue fighting for their playoff lives this season.