Cubs looking to strike
Down 0-2 vs. Mets’ power arms, they seek quality ABs
CHICAGO — The Cubs’ selective-aggressive approach at the plate produced 171 home runs this season but also an NL-high 1,518 strikeouts.
Against a strike-throwing Mets pitching staff, the Cubs need to find a happy medium if they’re going to rebound from a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS that resumes Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
“That’s not going to change all of a sudden when we face better pitching,” outfielder Chris Coghlan said. “We’re not going to stop (striking) out. No team is perfect. They all have things people can critique, and I understand that’s one for us. It’s the quality of the at-bat. You can’t control whether you get a hit. It’s about how well can we put quality at-bats together and how often we can hit the ball hard.”
The Cubs hope warmer temperatures forecast for the next two days will help cure their offensive woes. After striking out 20 times in the first two games while scoring only three runs — one on a homer by Kyle Schwarber — the Cubs face another stiff test against Jacob deGrom, who was fifth in the NL with a 5.39 strike-out-to-walk ratio.
Manager Joe Maddon doesn’t want his batters to expand the strike zone after intimating that might already have occurred in the first game thanks to plate umpire Rob Drake.
“You don’t want to change anything,” he said. “There’s been some width to the strike zone that we normally don’t get out of our patterns. I don’t want our guys to get out of our patterns. ... I don’t want our guys to change based on an umpire.”
One silver lining for the Cubs, who did recover to win three consecutive games against the Cardinals in the division series, is that deGrom throws nearly as hard as Games 1 and 2 starters Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard.
“I don’t want to say it’s more comfortable, but we know what to expect,” third baseman Kris Bryant said.