At the beginning of the season, I thought the most important Cub player in 2016 was going to be Kyle Schwarber.
But when Schwarber got injured in the outfield early in the season, the Cubs continued to bulldoze opponents with long winning streaks. To replace Schwarber's bat, Maddon relied upon more young talent: Baez and Contreras, who now appears to be the starting catcher in 2017.
When the Cubs dropped two games to the Dodgers in the NLCS, it was the lack of offense.
It made many think of the missing Schwarber bat. He only hit .143 in the Mets series in 2015, but for the entire playoff run he hit .333 BA, 5 HR, 8 RBI. He was the spark in the line up because he had consistent hard contact.
Opponents, especially good ones, can dissect a line up card to pin point who can hurt them, who to pitch around, and who to attack. There are still many holes in the Cub line up: Zobrist, Heyward, Russell, Montero may have a singular moment, but have been consistently off. With half a line up not a threat, that puts more pressure on the stars. Rizzo felt the pressure and tried to do too much. It was only after shattering his bat did he get back into the groove in the Game 4 10-2 blow-out.
But Game 4 spark was created by the defense. Contreras pick off and Heyward's throw to nip Gonzalez at home plate gave the Cubs the old, in season memories of being a great team.
Now that hitting has come back, and the pitching staff has been consistent, now is the time to run the table and clinch the pennant on Saturday night.
