On the one hand, the Cubs winning a game 6-1 against a bad team after taking an early lead makes for a laid back, fun, comfortable evening of fandom.
On the other hand, the bullpen blowing that lead, and the Cubs then winning on a walk-off wild pitch is the kind of whacky experience you get only so often, and that’s far more enjoyable.
If you missed how things ended last night – after Ben Zobrist “swung” at a pitch that hit him, then dribbled a grounder to advance Javy Baez to third base from second, and after Albert Almora struck out, Kris Bryant stepped to the plate to play hero. And it seems that the very presence of the reigning MVP was enough to give the Cubs the win:
Just how we drew it up. #Walkoff pic.twitter.com/Vz2TSttvfz
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 17, 2017
In all seriousness, I do think the pitcher yanked that one in part because he was REALLY gearing up for Bryant.
But you’ve gotta give credit there to Javy Baez, who led off the inning with a hustle double, setting up the entire inning. It was funny to see Almora fail to come through with Baez at third and just one out (well, I can say “funny” now, since the Cubs won), because we’d been discussing all day the fact that the Cubs were the single worst team in baseball in that situation.
Thankfully, the Cubs got a gift to walk things off so that we didn’t have another day of frustration.