How the heck are the Cubs the first team eliminated?

Pros and Joes10/03/2018 5:54 PM

It was as miserable of a experience as you can have in sports. I don’t think in the history of baseball there has been a game like it. The sequence of events that took place for the Cubs season to be over right now is remarkable. Over the past two games the Cubs only scored 2 runs in 22 innings so view it as an implosion than anything else.

For this blog I am going to walk you through the 7 circles of hell of what ended up being the most unsatisfying ending to a Cubs season in many years. For the first time in the history of the cubs two teams in two days had a champagne shower in the opposing teams locker room. I know this is going to come off as whiny but just let me air the frustrations of Cubs fans today.

Circle #1 Best Record in the National League Until Monday

A week ago today I was thinking, okay, is this team as good as the 2016 Cubs? As a whole they were not but I think the batting order with Murphy and Heyward (Who actually hit the ball this year, which is crazy because he that is what he get paid to do.) Baez was the MVP of the league until Yelich took it from him this past month. This team was comparable to the 2016 team. I thought this team could get to the world series, the AL is so good that winning would be tough but once you are in a series anything can happen.

The cubs batting average in 2016 was .256 vs. 2018 which was .258. But I actually think the batting order this year was better than the numbers showed. Which makes last night all the more worse.

The Cubs pitching staff this year was worse. In 2016 the teams era was 3.77 vs. 2018 which was 4.14 They didn’t have Jake Arrieta this year because they got swindled by Yu Darvish and the bull pen was not good at all. This team didn’t even have a true closer. However, if this cubs team would have actually got a real series to play in, I think they would have done well. Lester and Hamels can anchor a world series team and Hendricks & Quintana could certainly give quality starts in any series… Thats the problem they won 95 games and did not even get a series. This is a team that had been to 3 straight NLCS’s in a row.

Circle #2 The Milwaukee Brewers (In my opinion, it is actually their year)

In order for the crap shoot of a game to take place last night, the Brewers needed to get hot late in the season. My god they got hot. As a Cubs fan, at least in recent years you look to the Cardinals as rivals but you look at the Brewers and the younger brother who can not quite finish the season. The last few years that’s what the Brewers were, solid the whole year and then fade the last two months of the season.

They uhhh obviously did not fade. Not at all. I mean shit you have to give them credit. Cain, Braun and Yelich were amazing down the stretch. But what I can not wrap my head around is the fact the Cubs went 6-4 the last ten games of the year and the Brewers went 9-1 (8 in a row to end the season).

Then the brewers needed to beat the cubs at home to decide who goes the the wild card & who gets home field advantage through out whole NL playoffs (Obviously very important). If the Brewers would have lost 1 more game in that stretch or the cubs won 1 more, that crap game that took place last night NEVER WOULD HAVE FRICKING HAPPENED.

Circle #3 The Wild Card game structure

I will start of with this, in a season that has 162 games played, to decide which team is better by having a 1 game playoff is crazy. This should be turned into a 3 game series. Schedule a few extra double headers into the schedule during the year for every team or start the season a couple days earlier. I mean I know it is petty to say this given that the cubs lost to them 12 hours ago, but does anyone think the Rockies are better than the Cubs??

Unfortunately that is is not the structure the MLB has done yet. It really is not fair the Cubs were in a situation like this. They won more games than every team in the National League except the Brewers and won more games than the Dodgers and the Braves. The Cubs played in the toughest Division. Don’t get me wrong, last night was fun but it still is not a indicator of who is the better team.

If you are not going to go back to 1 Wild card team you should make it a short series.

Circle #4 The Rockies

If the Cubs had their season to end last night to the hands of the Dodgers or the Brewers I would have understood. The Rockies were playing 3 nights in a row in 3 different cities. That believe it or not is not a recipe for success. So to lose to them is awful given the circumstances.

I’ll go as far and say this, If the Rockies win the World Series I will swim butt naked in the Chicago river in November. I would get arrested but it is not going to happen so I don’t care. The Rockies had a decent season but they are still more than a few pieces away from actually being a true contender. I like them going forward but not this year. I mean…. the Rockies only scored 2 runs in 13 innings…

Circle #5 The Longest Postseason game in the History of Wrigley Field.

The title of this circle you would think would have a great connotation to it. Yippeee! I got to see the longest game in the history of the cubs in the playoffs. You know its something you will tell your grandkids when you are old. Put your grandson on your lap and tell him how you watch the cubs score 1 run in 13 innings.

Ya that won’t be happing. I am going to try and forget this game. I was at the field for 6 hours standing for more than half that time to watch the Rockies win in 13 innings. My eyes are blood shot right now and my ass hurts like hell and its not even Saturday night.

Look how happy these two guys look, who could have anticipated how disappointed they would be in a short 6 hours.

I have to believe that this is the first time in the history of baseball that a team scored 1 run in the 1st inning & only scored 1 run in the 13th inning and won the game. That is a lot of baseball to watch to see 78 batters come to the plate and see only 3 runs scored in total. The crowd was amazing through most of the night, but when you miss as many opportunities as the Cubs did in this game by the 13th inning everyone was done.

Circle #6 The inability to play small ball

I stated earlier that this cubs team batting order was pretty good. They scored a lot of run this year. However when you get into a game like we saw last night, and you not hitting the ball, you need to be able to manufacture runs.

I mean realistically they inadvertently scored their only run with small ball. When Rizzo got on in the 8th with two outs, they put Gore in. Who might be the fastest guy I have ever seen in my life. He stole second and Baez hit the game tying double. Which was the only great moment of the night offensively. It is crazy to think that the cubs the entire night never got 3 hits in a inning BUT that is not too surprising seeing as though they only got 6 hits compared to the 39 outs they recorded.

Circle #7 The Pole

You know when the day was still young and full of promise, I decided to text up my buddy Flynn and get tickets to the game. My friend lives 1o mins from Wrigley so I bought $100 tickets in section 236, which was a great deal (I only make great deals).

Get to our seats and what do you know, We literally had the worst view in the house. No view of home plate what so ever. Stub hub should by lynched for selling these tickets without a WARNING CAN NOT SEE HOME PLATE.

For 2 1/2 hours we sat there unable to watch the game. Luckily this turned out to be a 6 hour affair so we were able to find much better seats later but this should have been a indication that this night was not going to go the way we thought it was going to go.