For Cubs, moment of moxie is here
There’s scrap, and there’s scrappy. It’s been some time since the Cubs dusted themselves off of the scrap heap of baseball’s wait-till-next-year also-rans to become a regular at the postseason party. This year marks their fourth consecutive appearance in the playoffs. They snatched glory and the hearts of America in 2016, and almost reached the Series again last year.
This year’s run for the ring is on the line. On Monday, the Cubs came up short, losing 3-1 in an extra game tie-breaker against the Milwaukee Brewers to decide the division winner. On Tuesday they’ll play a one-game wild card playoff against the LA Dodgers.
Dire straits? Nah. There’s a different feel to this team. They’ve had to make do without key players either because of injury (closer Brandon Morrow, pitcher Yu Darvish) or administrative leave (Addison Russell). They’ve had slumps and bounced back.
But color these Cubs scrappy. Scrappy in sports is the flipside of juggernaut. It’s duct-taped, any-which-way winning with ample next-man-up moments. It’s not the uber-domination embodied in the Bulls championship runs in the ’90s, or the Bears’ Super Bowl Shuffle season, or even the Cubs of 2016, who won it all with a star-studded cast.
Recent memory conjures up one team that undeniably was scrappy personified. Last year’s Loyola Univeristy Ramblers won over this city and the nation not just because they made it to the Final Four, but because they showed so much grit getting there. They moxied their way up. Remember the buzzer beaters? The pregame pep talks from Sister Jean, who sprinkled into her prayers reminders that “You’re good jumpers. You’re good rebounders. You’re good at everything.”
We’d like to think of this year’s Cubs as scrappy incarnate. Minor leaguers have become major contributors. Third baseman David Bote tops that list. His two-out walk-off grand slam to beat the Washington Nationals at Wrigley on Aug. 12 was about as clutch as it gets. The regular season bullpen was filled with no-names who carried their weight—Randy Rosario, Alec Mills, Allen Webster, Jorge De La Rosa—not exactly Wheaties box material. Yet.
Cub fans again are hoping their Boys of Summer can make October glory-filled. And as fans revel in yet another postseason run, they can embrace the frayed edges that make whatever the Cubs achieve this year that much more satisfying. Just how far can they go? Who knows. Remember, though, they were down three games to one to the Indians in 2016 as they headed back to Cleveland for Games 6 and 7. We know how that ended: with a confetti-festooned bus trip to Grant Park.