Cubs manager Joe Maddon says he doesn’t believe in “any of that stuff”. While many of us here were ranting about catching the Cardinals for the division, Baker reported that the Cubs were focused exclusively on catching Pittsburgh for the 1st Wild Card. All have contributed, and, as other observers have pointed out, they play this kid’s game like kids, not anxious men burdened with history. And Kyle Schwarber, well, he’d hit town next year, when we’d REALLY get rolling.
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Jake Arrieta, the Cubs winning pitcher Wednesday night at PNC Field, is so aflame that if he were a prairie fire, he’d have scorched his way to the Atlantic by now. Thirteen walk-off wins! A run of 21 victories in 25 games! Otherwise, it’s on to next year. Make that the Baddest Team in the Solar System.
Then he repeated a version of the speech in the clubhouse – “Worry about this game only” – just before the Cubs opened their playoff series against the Dodgers.
“Joe said at the beginning of spring training that the hardest thing to do is crack the postseason the first time”, Rizzo said.
Who you are, how you win and how often you win and lose are equally important. “I think this organization has really grown, especially since I’ve been here”. I mean, not just the World Series – the Pirates didn’t have a winning season for two decades before finally breaking that streak a couple years ago. No need to recount what happened in that series against the Florida Marlins.
At this point, we have the Cubs in the 2015 World Series.
From that game on, the “Miracle” Mets mounted an 18-5 record on their way to the World Series and the Cubs went 8-12 and faded from the postseason picture.
Yet, the playoffs also are new territory for him. And he said he learned that approach from coaches and managers he had when he was growing up who were too serious all the time and took the fun out of the games. The excitement has been building up to first pitch in Pittsburgh.
They began restocking the farm system, loading up on prospects, and this is the payoff. Attendance dipped every year from 3,300,200 in 2008 to 2,642,682 in 2013. But a better measure of his deft touch is evident in the way he’s moved players in and out and up and down in the line-up and from one position to another (catcher to left field, third base to center to first, etc.) without apparent damage to play or morale. A few fans stopped to take pictures, as usual. His mindset is absolutely flawless to clear tonight’s hurdle, which make no mistake, is incredibly high.
People expected a vast improvement for the Cubs this season, but not what they actually accomplished. Their 24-game turnaround from last season is the best in baseball. A big moment arrives Wednesday.
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After beating Milwaukee on Sunday to cap a 97-win season, Maddon was asked whether it was surprising the Cubs needed one more W to climb into the real playoff bracket. “The team’s been unbelievable with 97 wins”.
