Yesterday's make up game had the underpinnings of a Cold War border crossing.
The Brewers were upset that they lost a precious day off for this make up game when the Cubs canceled a game in May when the bad weather never showed up.
The Brewers felt the Cubs front office (which has control of the start until the line up cards are exchanged with the home plate umpire) could have changed the day game to a night game to let the expected bad storms to pass. But the Cubs did not do so. They just canceled the game and scheduled a make up contest a day game after the Brewers played a night game.
It seems like a pretty petty thing for the Cubs to do. In May the Cubs were shuffling along. In July, the Cubs continue to shuffle along. Meanwhile, the Brewers used the clear diss to motivate themselves to pistol whip their rivals.
The blow out of the Cubs was done early. It was so bad that Joe Maddon admitted by the 5th inning he was talking to players about being the position mop-up pitcher in the late innings. A game of rock-paper-scissors between Jon Jay and Tommy LaStella allowed Jay to throw a slow pitch perfect 9th inning.
If Maddon joked about the end of the game as comic relief for a terrible performance, then the Cubs have more problems. The call up of Schwarber after 11 minor league games showed some desperation with the lack of offense. The Cubs were only averaging 4.5 R/G this year compared to 5.3 R/G in 2016. In the spring, Maddon wanted his team to average 6 R/G. Also, Mike Montgomery, who had been the most consistent pitcher since his promotion, got lit up by the Brewers.
You had the perfect storm. You had the Brewers who were mad at the Cubs for being disrespected; you have the Cubs who cannot seem to get their act together for two games in a row.
With the loss, the Cubs fall to 4.5 games behind the Brewers. Everyone keeps on talking about the Brewers not having the players to sustain a playoff run. But they continue to prove the division wrong. Everyone continues to believe that the Cubs will get a post break streak and cruise to the NL Central title. But that spark, if it was to be Schwarber's return, is fizzling (he is now hitting .168).
Writers try to pry a silver lining out of the dark cloud of the season with this stat: 70% the rest of Cubs opponents are under .500. But in reality, that stat does not matter since the Cubs are under .500 too.
At a certain point, someone will have to call this "a lost season." This Brewers game may be looked at in September as the downward fall of the Cubs championship defense.
