Running down how the Cubs' rivals fared at MLB trade deadline

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While the Cubs had a near-perfect trade deadline, their rivals were making waves, too.

The Cubs have addressed their biggest weaknesses — starting pitching, backup catcher, left-handed relief — but the other National League contenders accomplished the same thing.

The Cubs woke up Monday morning with a 2.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the division but boast only the fifth-best record in the league, coming in behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. The Cubs welcome the D-Backs and Nationals into town this week.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers have gone 39-6 over their last 45 games and made maybe the biggest splash on Monday's nonwaiver trade deadline, acquring Yu Darvish from the Rangers in the last moment before the deadline struck.

Darvish is one of the game's elite starting pitchers, even if he's had something of a down season (6-9, 4.01 ERA, 1.17 WHIP). He's still striking out 9.7 batters per nine innings and has accumulated 964 whiffs in 782.2 big-league innings in his career.

With Clayton Kershaw currently on the disabled list, Darvish slides in as the Dodgers' ace and will provide a nasty 1-2 punch with Kershaw in the postseason, assuming both players are healthy.

The Dodgers also acquired a pair of left-handed relievers in Tony Cingrani (Reds) and Tony Watson (Pirates) to help fortify the bullpen. Cingrani was particularly excited for the trade:

The moves make the Dodgers — already with baseball's best record — the favorite to come out of the NL. But then again, there's still more than two months left in the regular season...

Milwaukee Brewers

Three weeks ago, the Brewers were enjoying the All-Star break, sitting pretty 5.5 games up in the NL Central. They're now staring up at the Cubs, 2.5 games back after this past weekend's series in Milwaukee.

The Brewers lost out to the Cubs in the Jose Quintana sweepstakes and chose to make just one minor move before Monday's deadline: Acquiring veteran right-handed reliever Jeremy Jeffress from the Rangers for right-handed pitcher Tayler Scott (whom the Cubs drafted in the fifth round in 2011).

This was always supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Brewers and while they didn't sell at the deadline, they also didn't add and will head into the offseason with all their top prospects still within the organization.

Washington Nationals

The Nats already made waves by acquiring Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from Oakland earlier this month, helping to stablize the back end of the bullpen. That continued Monday as the Nats acquired Minnesota Twins closer Brandon Kintzler.

Kintzler turns 33 Tuesday and is 28-for-32 in saves this season while pitching to a 2.78 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in 45.1 innings.

Kintzler is steady but with an unimpressive strikeout rate, he's not exactly Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman and probably won't be changing the landscape of October baseball the way the pair of former Yankees southpaws did last fall.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies stayed quiet Monday after dealing for catcher Jonathan Lucroy Sunday. The 31-year-old veteran is having a down season (four homers, .635 OPS) but hit .292 with 24 homers, 81 RBI and an .855 OPS last season for the Brewers and Rangers and could easily become an offensive force at Coors Field.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The D-Backs already made their big move by getting J.D. Martinez from the Tigers earlier this month. Monday, Arizona made several under-the-radar moves, signing former Cub Emilio Bonifacio to a minor-league deal, trading for Oakland utility infielder Adam Rosales and then securing reliever David Hernandez from the Angels.

Hernandez figures to be the biggest contributor among that trio and he's familiar with Arizona after pitching there from 2011-15. He has a 2.23 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 this season while racking up eight holds and saving one game in two tries.

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