A Cubs fan’s guide to the World Series

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Jorge Soler hits a double during the NLCSThe Braves lost Ronald Acuña Jr. on July 10 when he tore his ACL trying to make a play in the outfield and to outside observers it looked like he might have taken the Braves postseason hopes with him. After all, the Braves were 44-44 and they had just lost their star player. Beyond that, they hadn’t been over .500 for a single game in 2021 and their outfield production aside from Acuña was abysmal. As I wrote at FanGraphs, Braves outfielders not named Acuña were worth a dreadful 0.4 fWAR heading into the trade deadline.

But the Braves didn’t throw in the towel. They made an early trade with the Cubs, adding Joc Pederson…