September 6, 2020: Falling Behind

The Cubs are still in first place… just wanted to start off with something positive. With the Cardinals winning 3 out of the first 4 games in this 5 game series, they have closed the gap to 1.5 games. Thank God for Yu. We’ll need Kyle to do his thing to come out of this series with a lead greater than a game; Jon was unable to do his on Sunday night. But what about the offense?

After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Cubs instantly tied it up, then took the lead in the 2nd inning 3-1; those were the last runs the Cubs scored. If you felt a sick feeling in your stomach when the Cardinals came back the following inning, and scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning to take a 5-3 lead, you weren’t alone… and for good reason by the way. If you feel the Cubs haven’t had many comeback victories this year, you would be right. Actually, the Cubs have only won 1 game after trailing by more than 1 run; let that sink in a minute. The game they did do it was against these Cards back on August 19th. Down 4-1 in the 2nd game of the doubleheader, the Cubs scored 4 runs in the 6th, capped off with a Baez 3 run HR, to win the game 5-4. That’s it. There have been no other games that the Cubs have come back from down by more than one run. Yeah, so when the Cubs fall behind by more than a run, and you feel sick, you know… you know that this team does not have that comeback quality, at least thus far.

Is that comeback quality a must for a good team? It feels like it would be. I’m not going to pull that information, but if I was a betting man, I think those good teams would be able to comeback from down by more than 1 run… more than 1 time in 41 games. If you spread that out over an entire, normal regular season, you’re talking about 4 times throughout the entire year. It just doesn’t feel right. It all ties back to the offense. We all know about Ian Happ and the year he is having. It’s funny to say that without him, the Cubs would be in even worse shape. Shockingly Jason Heyward is hitting 300 this year; him and Happ are the only ones. I know batting average isn’t everything, but when none of your stars are hitting above 240… you have a problem. We know about Baez and Bryant; I already dogged them out, but rightfully so. 191? 188? Really? I’m this close to cutting Bryant from my fantasy team. Schwarber 222, Rizzo 223, and the high water mark of 240 from Contreras. Heck, there’s only two other guys hitting higher than 240 with Caratini at 247 and Kipnis at 253. Somebody able to pull some different stats that makes me feel better about this lineup?

I know stats are not everything, but when you’re 24th in the majors in batting average, something ain’t right; it’s shocking we’re in first place frankly. This low batting average becomes mental too; I think that’s where we’re at, and that is why once we fall behind, we’re done… These guys are NOT believing in themselves, no matter what they’re saying. No matter how much cheering or dancing is going on in the dugout, there’s not enough good things to cheer or dance for on the field. How do we get over this mental hump?

Well, we have exactly 19 games to figure this out; heck, we need to figure it out a lot earlier than that. When you’re in a rut, you need to focus on one day at a time, one game at a time, one at bat at a time; this starts Monday in the series finale against the Cards. Lose this one, and this only gets worse. Winning… yeah, that’s the ONLY stat that matters. Go Cubs!