The Cubs are in a bad 4-10 streak after being swept by the Mets in a four game series. Ironically, before the series, NY media called the Mets "done" because of their struggles and potential bone spur issues with two of their young pitchers.
The Cubs have been dragging themselves through a long road trip. The starting pitching, the key to the brilliant start, has faltered to a level of real concern. Jake Arrieta cannot get through 6 innings. Jon Lester just had the worst start of his entire career. Jason Hammel is turning into his own personal second half Frankenstein of bad.
The week started with the Las Vegas bookies not taking any more bets that the Cubs would win the NL Central. They called it a foregone conclusion. The Cubs were 11 games up on the Cardinals at the time. But now, that deficit is down to 8.
The Cubs have had injuries. But all clubs have injuries. Anthony Rizzo slumped in May, but was on a tear in June. Hitters have ups and downs. The Cubs are playing a lot of prospects the last few weeks due to nagging injuries to starters. For the most part, Willson Contreras and Albert Almora have played well. Joe Maddon needed hitting and the youngsters were giving him contact so the manager rode the hot lumber.
But the bullpen was in a slumber which may have put more pressure on the starters. But in reality, the league has caught up with the Cubs pitching philosophy. More teams are taking pitches and working a count against the starters. By increasing the pitch counts, the Cubs starters have no easy innings. It exposes the weakness of the bullpen earlier in games. By teams taking more pitches and not swinging at sliders diving away or fastballs high in the zone, starters have to work harder to paint the corners. With the umpire strike zone all over the map this year, a starter will get frustrated when he is not getting border line calls. Steve Stone calls these long "stress" innings (with men on base, hitters driving in runs) more damaging than just an increased pitch count.
The rest of the league is using the Cubs offensive blueprint. Cubs hitters have worked counts and will except walks to keep the hitting line moving down the order. This lead to a lot of big innings and the high run differential the Cubs had on their peers.
But there is a silver lining in the current tails spin: the Cubs are still 51-30. An observer can tell that the Cubs are still on pace to win 102 games. If the Cubs just play .500 ball for the rest of the season, they would win 92 games (which in most minds would be a disappointment after winning 97 last season.)
ESPN has reminded us that the current season has ghostly flashback to 1977.
The Cubs current record of 51-30 is its best mark at the season’s midway point since the 1977 team.
But
the 1977 Cubs are not a pleasant memory. They started 47-22 and led the
NL East by as much as 8½ games. These are the Cubs of Bill Buckner,
20-game winner Rick Reuschel and future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter. But
the team cratered in the second half of the year, going 34-59 in the
last 93 games to finish 81-81, good for fourth place.
Despite the current woes, the Cubs have to be proud of their first half accomplishment. Now, the hard part: to build upon their success and break the Cubs longest losing streak of the season.
