Cubs welcome pressure of taking on twisted history
Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins. Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg, too.
Hall of Famers for the Chicago Cubs, but no championship rings.
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They all tried. Some got closer than others, but the famed drought got the best of them all. And decades of empty Octobers eventually took on a life of their own.
Now, as a new group of Cubs prepares to take aim at a lifetime of free drinks on the North Side, Sandberg, for one, believes this team might be uniquely positioned to succeed where so many others failed.
“When it’s talked about in that regard and you don’t have a game plan for that, you know, that that can be talked about on a daily basis,” Sandberg said, addressing the elephant in the room — the 108 years since the Cubs last won the World Series. “It can be brought to the players’ attentions, but I think this team here focuses on other things.
“They focus on their teammates, themselves, winning the game, having fun, somebody come up big and let’s celebrate in the room in there, and I think that’s their mentality. It seems to work.”
While the rest of the major leagues’ postseason picture is being sorted out, the Cubs are closing in on home-field advantage for the National League playoffs and making sure they are as ready as they can be for what they hope will be the franchise’s first World Series since its seven-game loss to Detroit in 1945.
The NL Central champions completed a three-game sweep of Cincinnati with a 9-2 victory Wednesday and lead Washington by eight games for the NL’s best record.
Playing to electric crowds all summer at a giddy Wrigley Field, the Cubs have spent most of the season looking down at the rest of the majors. And with the playoffs on the horizon, it seems as if they are only embracing the escalating pressure coming their way.
“I think pressure is what you make of it,” said Jon Lester, one of the front-runners for the NL Cy Young Award. “I mean, we all know what the deal is around here. You can’t run from it. All you can do is show up and play.”
The Cubs made it to the postseason last year as the second NL wild card and then eliminated Pittsburgh and St. Louis before they were swept by the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series.
That feel-good run by a team that appeared to be coming into its own turned into a runaway division title in 2016, boosted by offseason deals for free agents Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey.
Perhaps sensing what was coming, manager Joe Maddon told his pitchers and catchers to “embrace the target” when they arrived at spring training in February.
That slogan quickly went on a T-shirt, and then Maddon poked fun at himself with “Try Not To Suck,” a carry-over from last year that turned into a popular shirt around Chicago this summer.
Those slogans could serve the Cubs well next month.
“Why would you ever want to work somewhere where there’s no expectations? I don’t understand that,” Maddon said. “There’s that comfortable component of society that maybe they want to live in that moment where there are no expectations or any kind of pressure, and that to me would be absolutely no fun whatsoever.
“I think all of our guys, where you’re trained coming up as an athlete, you want to play in the championship game. You want to be the champion.”
But ahead of them is one unique challenge, beyond the obvious difficulty of winning three series against the majors’ best teams.
One misstep in the playoffs, one bad bounce, and the Cubs’ twisted history — everything from the infamous billy goat curse to the black cat that taunted Leo Durocher in 1969 and Steve Bartman’s misplayed foul ball 13 years ago — all comes roaring back to the forefront.
METS — Left-hander Steven Matz will miss his scheduled start Friday because of shoulder soreness.
Matz (9-8, 3.40 ERA) hasn’t pitched since Aug. 14 because of tightness in his left shoulder. The 25-year-old was penciled in to return on Sept. 1 but scratched after feeling discomfort when playing catch a day after throwing off the mound.
General manager Sandy Alderson said the rookie’s shoulder felt sore again after he threw a bullpen session Wednesday.
Right-hander Gabriel Ynoa, in line to follow Matz on Friday, instead will get the start.
YANKEES — Ace Masahiro Tanaka will miss his scheduled start Monday at Toronto because of what manager Joe Girardi called a slight lower right forearm strain.
Girardi said the right-hander won’t throw for five days but could start again before the regular season is scheduled to end Oct. 2.
The 27-year-old Tanaka had an MRI examination Thursday, one day after he recorded his 14th win despite allowing four home runs in the third inning of a 11-5 win over the Rays.
Tanaka, who has won seven straight decisions, is 14-4 with an American League-leading 3.07 ERA.
ORIOLES — Pitcher Kevin Gausman will miss his scheduled start Sunday because of soreness in his intercostal area.
Manager Buck Showalter said the ailment could have been caused by Gausman (8-11, 3.57 ERA) being dehydrated and is hopeful the 25-yearold right-hander will be ready to start Tuesday or Wednesday.