There are measuring posts throughout everyone's life.
Milestones and millstones where one can take stock.
Tuesday night was one of those moments.
Just as the Chicago Bulls had to defeat their nemesis, the Pistons;
Just as the Blackhawks had to defeat their bitter rival, the Red Wings,
the Cubs have to learn to win in the post season when the pressure is at its peak.
“We haven’t played our best baseball and they’ve pitched really well,”
Theo Epstein said to a throng of reporters after the 5-2 defeat.
Down 3-0 in a series is a death sentence. Only one team, the 2004 Red Sox have come back from that sinkhole. Some people may think there is still hope, but when the skies opened up with rain in the last inning, it was a signal that the heavenly water would mask the tears of the fans in the stands.
Mental errors by the Cubs outnumbered the physical errors by 10 to 1.
Joe Maddon was out-managed by Terry Collins.
The Mets pitching has been far superior. They realized that throwing fastballs to the Cubs was a recipe for disaster. So it was an overload of secondary pitches, which the Cub hitters failed to adjust to in the first three games.
The Cubs pitching looks gassed from a long season. A piece meal bullpen has now started to crack. The Mets continued to put pressure on the base paths causing the Cubs defenders to make mistakes. The Mets manufactured runs while the Cubs were passively waiting to hit home runs.
One would have hoped that the Cub players would have gotten better as as series progressed, but the "cold" start continued through last night's game. Tonight, with Hammel on the mound with a shorter leash than Hendricks, it will be another "bullpen" game which shows how far behind the Cubs are from the Mets, who will throw another very good rookie starter, Steven Matz, in Game 4.
The Mets are poised to make deep runs for the next several years. They have been compared to the Atlanta Braves who had a stellar pitching staff of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. Starting pitching is the hardest asset to develop or find. That is why star starters are commanding $20 million per season.
The Cubs must now know that the axiom that good pitching defeats good hitting has merit. The Cubs need two or three more quality starters in order to compete with the Cardinals and Pirates. The free agent market has many quality pitchers, but the price tag may be too high to snare a Greinke, Price or Zimmerman.
The Cubs also have to learn that next season the expectations are going to be sky high. They also must realize that teams of destiny, like the Nationals the past few seasons, don't mean anything if you cannot perform under the pressure of the limelight.
The Cubs exceeded everyone's expectations this season, including the front office. But 2016 seems to be the year that the promise of hope is erased with the expectation of a championship or bust. The Cubs do not have the pitching in the minor leagues to fill in the huge holes in the rotation. The Cubs need more consistency from the #3 and 4 starters. Also, the bullpen will have to be rebuilt. The Cubs still need more consistent hitters in the lineup so as not to rely on home run or bust. The team cannot rely on the "core" of Rizzo, Bryant and Schwarber to create the offense. Fowler will be gone in free agency so the team has a major hole at lead off to fill.
It was good and surprising season for the Cubs. Bonus baseball was great.
2016 is the real turning point for the franchise.
