One trope in mysteries is that a band of people are together in a mansion when during the course of the evening a person is murdered. Everyone immediately begins to suspect every guest, every motive, every nuance, until it is revealed at the end the butler did it.
The Cubs mysterious bad season has a Butler going to the mound to murder the Cardinals.
Or so we hope.
But Eddie Butler has a career 6-16 record in 36 games played (28 GS), with an ERA of 6.50, 1.770 WHIP and a negative 2.7 WAR. And he is touted as the fifth starter savior?
The hope lies in the small Iowa sample size: 5 starts, 1-0 record, 1.17 ERA, 1.109 WHIP in 30 IP with 17 Ks, 8 BB.
Can he hold back the staff's double digit 1st inning ERA disaster?
The Cardinals are in first place, 2.5 games ahead of the slumping Cubs. In St. Louis, the home town folk will want their team to stomp on the Cubs' collective neck to get some real separation in the NL Central.
Joe Maddon has run out of excuses ("fatigue," "championship hangover," "cold weather," "distractions") since the calendar has turned over to May.
Between #1 starter Lester and closer Davis, the pitching staff has been a mess. No one has been consistent. The Cubs had been carrying 9 pitchers in the bullpen just to try to survive long games which led to several starters pitch hitting in extra inning contests.
To compound the pitching woes, the Cubs defense has been below average. One person remarked when Rizzo had the day off, the Cubs fielded four second basemen to play the infield. Zobrist has not been good in any outfield spot. Baez is trying to make every play a Sportscenter highlight reel instead of getting sure outs.
It is clear that the Cubs lack focus. It may be hard to get yourself up to do a daily grind when you have already won a championship, but this team is young and should be hungry enough to continue history by winning multiple championships. That means laid back Joe needs to start sitting players when they screw up to send a message (remember all the tough love Starlin Castro received when he was a Cub?)
