Cubs might be tired, but they’ll be ready
Traffic on the I-10 freeway delayed Cubs manager Joe Maddon enough that his news conference Friday at Dodger Stadium started 20 minutes late.
Maddon finally entered the interview room looking like he hopped off the back of a Harley, wearing a blue denim jacket with its collar flipped and a Route 66 patch over a green striped T-shirt and black pants.
“We’re here,” Maddon said with a smile, appearing rushed as he removed his sunglasses.
A medical emergency the Cubs successfully addressed diverted the team plane Friday morning to Albuquerque. The team then sat five hours in New Mexico inside a 767 jet because Federal Aviation regulations on flight hours required a change in the cockpit. Yes, Maddon changed pilots on his way to the National League Championship Series. The detour extended the Cubs’ crosscountry trek from Washington D.C. to 10 hours, quality time as far as their manager was concerned.
Late arrivals suit the 2017 Cubs, a team that started slowly but eventually got where it wanted to go, back in California dreaming of another World Series after a season they took a more circuitous route to the NLCS. A tiring 10-hour journey after a 4-hour-37minute victory over the Nationals in Game 5 of the NL division series, the longest postseason nine-inning game in history, barely fazed a team that entered the All-Star break two games under .500.
“The adrenaline will be supplied,” Maddon promised. “The guys are going to show up.”
The Cubs typically do, a fact returning to Chavez Ravine reinforces to anybody who dares to doubt the defending World Series champions. Sunshine and blue skies replaced the chilly mist that served as the backdrop for the final two games of the NLDS, fitting scenery for all the happy memories this place elicits for the Cubs.
This was where Addison Russell homered in Game 4 of the 2016 NLCS to stop the Cubs’ 21-inning scoreless streak. This was where Jon Lester shut down the Dodgers in Game 5. This was where Anthony Rizzo snapped his playoff slump by borrowing former teammate Matt Szczur’s bat and the Cubs scored 18 runs in Games 4 and 5. This was the site of too much fun for the Cubs to let a little fatigue interfere with their main objective.
“Right now, we’re playing with that same kind of mental acumen and edge that I’ve seen the last two years,” Maddon said. “Probably from the second half of ’15 to last year to right now, it’s very familiar.”
Familiarity cloaks every aspect of this epic week for the Cubs. Less than 24 hours earlier, Maddon was wearing goggles in the Cubs clubhouse to protect his eyes from the spraying champagne. Team president Theo Epstein was in shorts and flip-flops, taking swigs from bottles and accepting hugs from strangers. Players lit cigars, celebrating the team’s third straight trip to the NLCS that represents the sustained success Epstein promised — and delivered.
Yet even the most nuanced baseball nerds struggled to explain how the Cubs overcame a 4-1 deficit to the Nationals with Max Scherzer on the mound with two outs in the fifth inning. It was the most amazing postseason game in Cubs history that didn’t include a rain delay. Four straight Cubs batters reached base in unorthodox ways: an intentional walk, a strikeout with a passed ball, catcher’s interference and a hit batsman. Four runs followed. Wade Davis later impersonated John Wayne, getting a seven-out save and striking out Bryce Harper to end the game. So much happened that Maddon called it “one of the most incredible victories I’ve ever been part of.” Russell, who drove in four runs, compared it to winning the World Series.
“We just found a way,” Russell said.
The Dodgers won 104 games and open Game 1 of the NLCS at home Saturday regarded as the best team in baseball. But the Cubs might be the toughest team to beat, which puts all the long odds out of Las Vegas and short fuses about the Cubs bullpen woes in perspective. Legitimate questions surround the Cubs relief corps, given that Carl Edwards Jr. suddenly can’t find the plate with a GPS and Justin Wilson can’t get Maddon to trust the lefthander enough to use him. Questions dog the dependability of the slumping Kris Bryant and the overall team defense that was sloppy against the Nationals. Heck, Maddon didn’t even know who was starting Game 1 opposite Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw when he left the ballpark Friday.
So why are the Cubs strangely confident?
“It’s about the heartbeat, brother,” Maddon said.
To Maddon, it matters most that the Cubs have a roster full of guys who put team goals ahead of individual goals.
“So we’re going to be tired [Saturday], who cares?” Maddon said. “They’re going to be ready to play. They’re going to be ready to play Sunday. Yesterday, 4-1 down, you come in our dugout, and you would not believe the attitude after [Michael A.] Taylor hit that home run. … I anticipate the same kind of mental effort [Saturday], regardless of being stuck on the runway or getting in late. Whatever it takes.”