Last year, the Chicago Cubs, despite some dips in quality, got insanely hot late in the year, yet couldn't sustain that momentum for a postseason run. This year, the Cubs...have had some dips in quality, have been one of the hottest teams in baseball since the ASG break, and are still 4 games behind the Mets-Braves scrum. It may be more of the same, or it may be an inexplicable playoff run from a team everyone counted out.
Something that was always clear about the Cubs, even in the weak points, was that they were a well-built team that had terrible luck. They made an upgrade at manager by getting Craig Counsell, they brought back Cody Bellinger and signed Shota Imanaga, and they lined their team with solid, consistent players. It was just a matter of getting everybody to be good at the same time, and that took them until now. Shota Imanaga was incredible in April, then he...met Angel Reese and cooled down significantly. Kyle Hendricks has Jekyll-and-Hyded like no one has in a while, just over the course of this season. Mike Tauchman had a big May and did little else.
And now, you're seeing all these people that took til NOW til build something, like Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, Justin Steele, Seiya Suzuki and Miguel Amaya, working on great seasons. Swanson honestly came out of nowhere, and went from a low-level contact rate to now having 55 RBIs and 13 homers, in addition to another year of solid defense. Nico Hoerner was always steadily there but I think he became more important as the year went on, as this sort of leadership force with durable defensive skills and a team-leading 27 stolen bases. Suzuki has slowly accumulated more momentum, and now leads the team in OPS with 64 RBIs and 19 homers.
This team, since mid-August, is 12 and 5. They're above .500, 2nd in the NL Central, and one of the few teams left in that division with any hope of making the playoffs. They've lost a few recent games to Pittsburgh, and now have the hell of playing the Yankees and Dodgers back to back. And then they finish the season by playing 4 bad-to-medicore teams and also the Phillies. If they can at least split the big series', and keep rolling through the Rockies and A's and those guys, the Cubs have a chance. They're a good enough team, the pitching's held up, the bullpen's surprisingly great, and they seem surer this year.
But...the Mets are ahead, and they might be a better version of the Cubs. They weren't supposed to compete, had an early deficit, surged like hell midyear and are now rolling. But they're rolling when the Cubs have stalled, and the Mets are very close to lapping the Braves for that wild card spot. If the Cubs want to outdo the Mets, they need to beat them at their own game and not bleed until they're in. The Mets are funny when they're hoisted by their own petard, and the Cubs aren't. People are expecting the Cubs to miss the playoffs, which is why they have to strike now.
Coming Tomorrow- A year ago he was one of the quickest draft-to-roster additions in recent history. Now he's got a few other colleagues from that draft class trying to shake up the team.
The Cubs can look at all those early blown saves if they don't make it. Their offense can shut down at the drop of a hat, as evidenced by the path of destruction they left on their last road trip, then nothing for two games against both the Pirates and Yankees at home, and then back to full strength for those 2 series finales. It's a roller coaster!
ReplyDelete