The Cubs in 2019: Baseball Time Is Here Again

With all of the depressing blog posts lately (because they were dealing with current affairs), at least this this a good one – baseball season starts Thursday!¹  In the words of Steve Goodman, “baseball time is here again, you can catch it all on WGN.”  Well, sort of.  Baseball season is here again.  And you can catch some of it on WGN, for one more season, at least.  But it doesn’t matter.  Because once the game starts, it’s not over ‘til it’s over.  And the chance for joy and happiness isn’t over until it’s over.  And it might not be over even then.

There was a lot of grumbling over the winter that the Cubs didn’t spend sign one or more free agents.  But, of course, they did – sort of.  They “signed” Cole Hamel, who would have been a free agent if they hadn’t exercised his option.  Plus, they spent lots more money on the young guys they already have. Which I think is fine.  Because you know the guys you have and what they are capable of, as opposed to likely overpaying for somebody else’s players based on what you hope they can do.

Over the past four years, the Cubs have given their fans something they haven’t seen since the 1960s/early 1970s: a bunch of guys to watch and root for, year after year.  The 1984/1989 Cubs had Sandberg, Sutcliffe, and Sanderson in common, but that wasn’t anything like Williams/Santo/Banks plus Randy, Fergie, Don and Glenn, Kenny, Bill – and more.

Since 2015, we’ve had much the same as 50 years ago.  Anthony and Jon, Kyle H., Kris, Addison, Javy, Kyle S., Willson, Ben, Jason – and more.  Not only have these guys been together, but they won it all in 2016, something that a lot of us never thought we would see.  Even when they lose (and that hasn’t happened that much; they’ve averaged 96¾ wins over the last four seasons), watching them play while remembering what they did in that magical season is a lot of fun.

But what about 2019?  I am hopeful.  If the guys play up to their potential, or even most of them do, they can make the postseason, and then it’s just a matter of getting hot in October.  The key, as we saw last year, is to win the division and stay away from the Wild Card game.  That is a tough game: One and you could be done.  The Cubs did okay in the Wild Card game in 2015 (thanks to Jake and Kyle S.), but to have the whole season come down to one game is hard.  Better to go straight to the division series.

The National League Central is going to be tough this year, but we’re as tough as anybody else.  It’s just a matter of enough guys playing like they can, avoiding too many injuries, and management helping out where they need to – like in the bullpen, maybe?  The key is not to get too high, or too low, too early.  It’s a long season² – and a long postseason.  Stay cool and trust in your team and your teammates.  And, hopefully, everything will be okay.
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¹ Yes, I know that the Mariners beat the A’s two games in Japan last week, but the real regular season starts Thursday.
² As Jim Brosnan said 60 years ago – and the season was only 154 games then.