By Jordan Long
The Chicago Cubs season came to a stunning end last night, losing to the Colorado Rockies 2-1 in 13 innings in the Wild Card Game. This is the first time in 4 years they will not be playing in the National League Championship Series. It is a disappointing end to a promising season.
The Cubs knew going into the year they would be one of the top teams in the National League. It was due to their lineup of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, and Jason Hayward. All them are able to hit on base, smack the long ball, and move runners into scoring position. On August 21 they added even more depth to the lineup, trading for Washington Nationals’ 2nd baseman Dannial Murphy. This was in hopes of another long postseason run.
The Cubs offense in the regular season was 4th in all of baseball with a .258 batting average. The only setback to their offense was the long ball. They didn’t hit many home runs during the season with 167, 22nd in all of baseball. The Cubs’ hitters took too many chances swinging at pitches outside the zone which equaled to 1,388 strike outs, 13th in Major League Baseball.
On paper, this offense was going to do damage and score runs. 40 times this season they scored 1 or 0 runs during a game. That isn’t enough offense to win games.
The Cubs knew their starting pitching would be key for them. Their rotation was going to be one of the top one’s in baseball with Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, and Jose Quintana. These pitchers are able to keep the Cubs in games and strike batters out. On July 26th, they acquired Cole Hamels to add even more depth for a deep run in the postseason.
The starting pitching was strong for the Cubs. Pitchers went deep into games. The combined ERA for the starting pitching was 3.84, 10th in all of baseball.
The question mark heading into the year was the bullpen especially the closer position. They allowed Wade Davis to test free agency. He ended up signing with the Colorado Rockies. The Cubs agreed to a contract with Braddon Marrow who had 18 saves in the previous 11 seasons. He ended up with 22 saves but was shut down on September 18th ending his season.
The Cubs bullpen was one of the top ones in all of baseball. Relivers came into ball games and shut down opponents’ from scoring. Their combined ERA was 3.35, 2nd in all of baseball.
The Cubs looked like they were going to cruise to another National League Central Division title. On September 2nd, they held a 5 game lead over the Brewers. The Cubs were 81-55 at that point. They ended up going 10-12 the rest of the way. The Brewers ended up tying the Cubs in the standings and even won game 163 by the score of 3-1, giving the Brewers the Division Title.
Looking at next season, the Cubs don’t need to do anything with their pitchers. They have a solid rotation and that may help them to be back in 1st place in the National League Central. They could use more arms in the bullpen to keep leads late in games.
They must address their offense. They still should be one of the top offenses in all of MLB. Chicago could add another batt in the lineup to make it even more dangerous. Those include free agent outfielders Bryce Harper, Andrew Mccutchen, and infielder Manny Machado. President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein will do what he feels best to make this team better in 2019 in hopes of another World Series Title run.
Thanks for the commentary and analysis. I was puzzled about the end of the Cubs season and have a clearer understanding now. As aChicago transplant from Denver, I would rather the Cubs be taken out by the Rockies than any other team.