By Jordan Long
The Chicago Cubs have been eliminated from playoff contention. It is shocking since they held a 3.5 game lead over the Brewers heading into September. Chicago is going to miss the postseason for the first time since 2014.
The Cubs’ offense isn’t great. They are in the middle of the league with a team batting avarage of .252. The Cubs have smacked 250 home runs to this point, ranking 6th in MLB. They are not patient at the plate with 1,421 strikeouts, 12th in MLB. The positive with their at bats are walks. They earned 569 walks, 6th most in baseball.
The starting pitching wasn’t awful to this point with a combined ERA of 4.12, 10th in the Majors. The bullpen ERA is 3.93. If you look at those numbers, the Cubs should still be in the conversation for making the playoffs.
What dashed the postseason hopes are blown saves. The Cubs couldn’t keep leads in the 9th inning. It didn’t matter which pitcher Manager Joe Maddon called upon to save games. They ended up blowing 28 games, 7th most in baseball. If they saved even half of those games, the Cubs would have ended up winning the division.
Besides their pitching woes, the road wasn’t kind to them this year. At Wrigley Field, the Cubs are one of the best home teams with a record of 51-30. Away from the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field, they were a disappointing 31-46. To be a playoff team, that record had to be at or above .500. The Cubs, for whatever reason, struggled on the road. Their hitting and pitching went away.
The Cubs have 4 games left in the year. Once those are over, Chicago is into the offseason. Chicago Cubs’ President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein, is going to make tough decisions. The first is to decide if Manager Joe Maddon is going to be back. His contract is up. Once he figures that out, Epstein will need to improve the ball club, especially the bullpen.
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