The Cubs Go to the Postseason – In a Pandemic

First, a general thought:  Because of the pandemic and because Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred figures it is all about the money, sixteen teams are going to the postseason instead of ten.  (It’s amazing.  A few years ago, ten teams going to the postseason seemed too many.  Now it seems like the good old days.)  Because so many teams are going to the postseason, there are two teams with a record below .500 to the playoffs.  That should not be happening.  Teams with more losses then wins should be going home, not to the postseason. The teams playing them should just get a bye.  There has to be some standards – other than TV revenue.

To the Cubs.  The Cubs have the worst record of any division winner.  We started 13-3 and finished 21-23.  It helped that we are in the worst division in baseball.  This is especially important for the first round since Kyle Hendricks gets to pitch at home, and he is so much better at Wrigley Field than on the road. 

While our starting pitching was great early on, now we have only two reliable starters: Hendricks and Darvish (“Kyle and Yu and rain out of the blue”-?).  Two starters may be enough for the Wild Card Series.  It is two out of three, after all.  It might even just work in the NLCS (Kyle and Yu can go in games 1-2-6-7).  But a five-straight-game NLDS is a problem.  Lester is erratic, as in Mills.  And Adbert Azolay?  I don’t see how it works.

As for the hitting, it has been on and off.  On in the beginning of the season, but off lately (until the White Sox series).  We just have to get hot – and pray.

Possibly the best comment on baseball this year was in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune.  There was an article on “The Cubs Top Twenty Moments of 2020.”  That could include more than half of our wins.  Amazing.

Ultimately, who knows how far the Cubs can go.  It doesn’t look all that hopeful, but then it never does for Cubs fans.  It is, as it always is, a matter of who gets hot in October.  This year will obviously set a record for the fewest regular season wins for a World Series champion.  It might as well be us.