Cubs back on track
With hangover out of the way, swag, confidence return
It was one of those ugly hangovers the Chicago Cubs couldn’t shake, their heads pounding, struggling to get out of bed, listless on the field and perhaps baseball’s biggest underachieving team.
Mercifully, it finally went away 21⁄ 2 weeks ago.
The Cubs not only have finally rid themselves of that World Series hangover, but they’re once again a powerful, ruthless team capable of destroying anyone in their path.
Simply, they’re back to being the Cubs, the team that has won 200 regular-season games and a World Series championship the last two years.
“Our confidence is pointing in the right direction,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “I can’t deny that it’s more of that ’15-16 feel as opposed to the beginning of ’17. It was like Uncle Chuck and my old ’65 Plymouth Fury. It just didn’t want to turn over. You get in that thing, and it just didn’t want to turn over. It didn’t want to engage. “And all of a sudden, it kicked in. “Now, we’re starting to look like we’re supposed to look.
“Our engine finally seemed to turn over.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers might become the chic pick to win the World Series with the acquisition of Yu Darvish, the New York Yankees’ championship hopes significantly improved by grabbing Oakland Athletics ace Sonny Gray, and the Washington Nationals fixed their leaky bullpen by grabbing three stoppers.
Yet the World Series still goes
through the beautiful streets of Chicago, with the Cubs reminding everyone they’re hardly satisfied breaking their curse. They added veteran starter Jose Quintana at the All-Star break and brought in valuable left-handed reliever Justin Wilson and veteran catcher Alex Avila from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline.
“I really like what we did,” Maddon said, “possibly the best of all of the teams, with the players we got, based on the needs that we have. I don’t think we could have done any better.
“This time of year when you add people like that, and the guys in the room that it’s going to make you better, it makes the vibe even greater there.”
Despite all of the bravado, no one is saying this is still the same Cubs team that terrorized the National League last year, outscoring the opposition by 252 runs, cruising to the NL Central title and winning their first World Series title in 108 years.
The Cubs, who are the first defending World Series champs to be leading their division on Aug. 1 since the San Francisco Giants in 2011, have only the ninth-best record in baseball (56-48). Technically, they could miss the playoffs with a mere 21⁄ 2- game lead over the surprising Milwaukee Brewers in the division.
Yet the reality is that the Cubs will win the division going away. They have picked up eight games in the standings on the Brewers since the All- Star break, going 13-3, and the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates will be choking on their exhaust, too.
When the regular season ends Oct. 1, the Cubs will win the NL Central by at least 10 games — marking the first time since 1906 to 1908 they’ve reached the postseason in three consecutive years — with a date against the Nationals in the first round of the division series.
Really, barring a massive collapse by somebody, the NL playoff picture is set.
The Dodgers, who entered Tuesday with a 10-game lead over the Nats for the best record, will play the winner of the wild-card game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. And the Cubs will play the Nats, who happen to be at Wri- gley Field for a playoff preview this weekend.
Come on, you don’t think the Cubs were already thinking of the Nationals when they acquired Wilson, giving Maddon three lefthanded relievers to combat lefthanded All-Stars Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy?
Make no mistake, the Dodgers still are the World Series favorites after grabbing Darvish at the deadline.
Yes, that swag and confidence the Cubs had all last year, going AWOL the first half of the year, suddenly has returned.
“We’re obviously back to that good-feeling team again, which we struggled to be in the first half,” Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said.
“Two months left to get to the big party, and everyone’s focus is a lot more sharp now.”
The Cubs, who have only 12 games against teams with win- ning records once their homestand ends Sunday, certainly plan to do a lot of partying in the second half.
The starting pitching, since acquiring Quintana from the White Sox, is looking just like last year’s vintage model, yielding a 2.53 ERA and .197 opponent’s batting average — best in baseball.
Their offense never has been better all year, either, hitting a league-leading 40 homers in July, while catcher Willson Contreras hit .321 with seven homers and 19 RBI.
“We’re pretty excited the way everything ’s going now,” World Series hero Kyle Schwarber said. “We were pretty fortunate the division was where it was at the All-Star break, and since we came out of it, we’ve taken off. We’ve got that confidence back.” The reason? “I think it came down to knowing that we had to start playing better in a hurry,” pitcher Mike Montgomery said, “for the front office to buy into us. Once that happened, we’ve taken off.”
Who knows, by the time this season ends, the hangover that refused to go away might have been the best thing that happened to them.
There was no finger-pointing. No clubhouse fights. Not even terse clubhouse meetings.
“The message the whole time was that we’d be fine,” outfielder Jon Jay says. “Really, when you think about it, that just made us closer. We went through the struggles together and came out just fine.
“We hope the good times are ahead.”
The Cubs, who even made nice with beleaguered fan Steve Bartman this week, presenting him with a World Series ring, are ready to go where no National League club has gone since the Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” in 1975-1976. And go back-to-back. Who knows, maybe they’ll have an extra 2017 ring for the Billy Goat.