Such a weird thing to do after a postseason exit: do some daily Bullets like it’s any other day. There’s no way I’ll say here all the things I want to say – or even most of them – so I just kinda have to bang it out, and then get on to the other posts to try to get into some rhythm of normalcy.
I am not going to do the easy thing and say today that “oh man, you could see that coming from a mile away.” While it’s true that the Cubs had obvious issues for a long time heading into the postseason, baseball doesn’t lend itself to that kind of predictive power in single games. The Cubs were an 11th inning base hit away from winning that game last night, for example. People knowing the Cubs had issues didn’t make a particular ground ball not find a hole. It’s just baseball being baseball at that moment. I neither saw nor didn’t see last night coming. I just tried to watch.
Unfortunately, what I saw was a continuation of the degradation of the offense in the second half – extending the zone for weak contact, failing to drive meatballs. That was the story for months, and that was the story last night. Credit to the Rockies’ pitchers, sure – they have some great ones – but I’m not sure last night required great pitching.
We will get into more specifics in the coming weeks, but, suffice to say, I expect a number of changes on the offensive side, from the player group to the coaching staff to the philosophy.
Another season, and another year of “earning it” for Jon Lester. When the Cubs signed Lester to a massive six-year deal before the 2015 season, the hope was that you could get something like two excellent seasons from him, and then four passable seasons – that’s how these deals work for guys who’ve entered their 30s. But instead, the Cubs have so far gotten three excellent seasons and one passable season from Lester, and a boatload of postseason success. The Cubs didn’t win last night, but it wasn’t because of Lester. Rest up that arm, Big Jon. You’ve got at least two more years with the Cubs to just keep doing what you do.
Sum it up, Jon:
Jon Lester: “Sometimes you need to get your dick knocked in the dirt to appreciate it. Maybe we needed that.”
We almost had one of those OMG SERIOUSLY!? moments in postseason lore when, in the 11th inning, Javy Baez was tagged out by Nolan Arenado and embraced the Rockies third baseman in a hug in the process. It was light, it was fun, and it had absolutely no bearing on anything on the field whatsoever. But Bud Black was nevertheless perturbed, I presume because it was a live ball and in theory some play could have miraculously happened at another base. There was no play. Nothing was going to happen. It was just silly, let it be silly:
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(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Speaking of things that won’t be remembered in the same way because the Cubs lost, this GIF will probably be lost now to the sands of time:
Terrance Gore, buddy: on 3-2 in that situation, there is absolutely no reason for that bat to come off of your shoulder. I know, you’re a baseball player, and it goes against your wiring. But that was a big, unnecessary mistake. Great job scoring that run earlier, though. You’re still good in my book. And if you wind up on another minor league deal somewhere, I certainly hope it’s with the Cubs.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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