‘Nobody here is worried’
Sure, Cubs may be down 2-0, but ,‘There’s no panic,’ says catcher David Ross
You can tell the Chicago Cubs are feeling the pressure of this postseason when pitcher Trevor Cahill is throwing a football to teammates running patterns in the Wrigley Field outfield.
They looked completely stressed out in their Monday workout, with the music blasting, rookie power hitter Kyle Schwarber dancing and their entire batting practice Monday consisting of nothing more than guys standing around fielding bunts.
Go ahead and think what you want, and they’ll quickly remind you that they have won 101 games and don’t plan on their season ending until they wind up with 109, sometime in early November.
Sure, they might be down 2-0 to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series and have to face ace Jacob deGrom on Tuesday at Wrigley Field, but they appear as stressed out as a yoga instructor in Maui.
History has been cruel to teams losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series, with those losing two on the road to start coming back to win only 10 of 47 times.
But don’t talk about obstacles with Cubs President Theo Epstein. He was the Boston Red Sox general manager when they trailed the New York Yankees 3-0 in the 2004 American League Championship Series, only to come back and make history by winning four consecutive games.
Then again, he also was that 12-year-old kid standing on his parents’ couch with his twin brother, Paul, watching Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Mets and his beloved Red Sox, ready to celebrate the Red Sox’s first title since 1918.
“We decided that we wanted to be connected to the Earth when the last out went into the glove,” Epstein said. “So we stood on top of our parents’ couch with two outs in the (10th) inning. We were going to jump off when the last out went in the glove.
“We were on that couch for about 25 minutes.”
They watched in horror as the Red Sox blew a two-run lead and ultimately lost when Mookie Wilson’s grounder trickled between first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs.
“We ended up crumbling to the ground pathetically,” Epstein said. “We just sat there for half an hour. That one hurt. That was a tough one to recover from.”
Epstein felt the same pain 17 years later when Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone homered in Game 7 of the ALCS, ruining the Red Sox’s season again.
Yet along came that glorious 2004 season, and even down 3-0 in the ALCS, Epstein never lost hope. His scouting director, Jason McLeod, boldly predicted before Game 4 that if the Red Sox won that day they would go to the World Series.
“There are so many similarities that are impossible to ignore,” Epstein said. “From the passion to the heartbreak to the hope.”
So if you really want to hear the Cubs laugh now, tell them they have no chance.
They heard the same thing in spring training after Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo predicted in January that they would win the division. And again in midsummer when they were struggling to stay in the wild-card race. And even last week playing against the mighty St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Division Series.
Yet here they are, thinking that even with the lopsided pitching matchups on paper in the next two games with Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel going against deGrom and Steven Matz, they can still get this series back to New York, giving them a bigger stage on which to celebrate.
“Rocky set a great example in 1976 for all of us,” said Cubs man- ager Joe Maddon, who had the theme song to that movie blaring in the clubhouse Sunday night. “When you get behind the eight ball a little bit, sometimes you just go pound on some big slabs of beer in the cooler, and obviously you come back and you’re fine.
“I promise you, guys are ready to play. We’ve been through those moments. ... You’ve got to throw that jab. You’ve got to stagger the other guy a little bit and get momentum going back in your favor. “So anything ’s possible, man.” Certainly, the Cubs have to make adjustments at the plate or pray that the Mets pitching staff can’t stay this dominant with their power arms and pinpoint control of off-speed pitches.
The high-powered Cubs have been gasping for air, scoring three runs in two games and batting .159 with a .221 on-base and .238 slugging percentage. They hit 10 home runs in their four-game NLDS against the Cardinals yet have managed just three extrabase hits against New York.
And, oh, have they seen their share of fastballs, with the Mets throwing 103 pitches clocked at 95 mph or faster compared with the Cubs’ three pitches of 95.
You know the Mets have something special going when rookie Noah Syndergaard faces Schwarber with Dexter Fowler on second base and, on a full count, has the guts to throw a changeup that left Schwarber swinging at air.
“We’ve got to adjust and do it in a hurry,” Cubs infielder Javier Baez says. “We know what we can do, but we’ve got to do it.”
Certainly, the Mets are aware the Cubs can recover at any time. They watched the Cubs beat up on them all season, winning all seven meetings. “The minute you think they’re naive enough to think this is over, you’re making a big mistake,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “They know exactly what they’re facing.”
The Cubs have proved all year how dangerous they can be and, as veteran pitcher Jon Lester reminds his teammates, don’t even think about what’s at stake.
“I’ve always been a big believer in playing stupid,” he said. “We weren’t supposed to be here. ... Here we are.”
So there’s no reason for the Cubs to go home early now.
“This is nothing new to us,” Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant said. “There’s no sense of desperation. No one’s panicking. ...
“Look at the Red Sox that year. Anything ’s possible in the playoffs. We win, it will make this story that much better.”