Top 25 MLB players to watch in October

23. Carl Edwards Jr.

The Chicago Cubs will have one of the more traditional pitching staffs entering the postseason. They are not blessed with a multi-inning relief ace like Andrew Miller or Dellin Betances. The Cubs faced down this same issue last season as they won the World Series and nearly lost because Joe Maddon was overly reliant on closer Aroldis Chapman. In Wade Davis, the Cubs have a dominant closer, but their middle relief corps has been a problem in the second half.

Carl Edwards Jr. was one of the few Cubs relievers not named Aroldis Chapman who was given a chance to pitch in October last year. He appeared in eight games in the playoffs and had a 2.84 ERA but struggled to throw strikes. Edwards as a rookie last year, and the Cubs expected him to take the next step in 2017 and hold down their eighth inning.

That seemed to be exactly how the season would play out for Edwards. He finished the first half with a 2.29 ERA and 12.7 K/9. Paired with Davis, the Cubs had their late-game one-two punch to shut down any opponent in the playoffs. Edwards kept the train rolling through July, holding opponents to a .105/.292/.132 line for the month. When the calendar turned to August, however, the wheels fell off for the second-year righty.

Edwards finished the month of August with a 6.35 ERA and was hit hard. His ERA has fallen to a more respectable level in September, but he is still a notch below the dominant levels he showed in the early  months of the year. The Cubs traded for Justin Wilson to help shore up their bullpen for the playoffs, but Maddon’s life will be much easier if Edwards locks it in.