NEWSLETTER
The game was slightly more interesting than a 7-0 score against the Dodgers might otherwise suggest, but make no mistake: the Dodgers are such a clearly better team than the Cubs that when each side plays a mostly unremarkable game, it can wind up being a blowout. One of these teams is not like the other.
Believe it or not, Clayton Kershaw turned in one of the lesser seven-inning, no-run performances you’ll see. His two strikeouts were his fewest in a seven-inning scoreless outing in his career, and that’s because he was actually getting hit really hard all day. But the Cubs’ balls were finding gloves, and the Cubs’ baserunners were often saying, “Hey, it’s cool, I would like to be out.”
I joke-ish, but the Cubs’ first two innings ended when Seiya Suzuki got picked off (when it didn’t even look like he was running, and instead just kinda departed into his secondary lead way too early), and when Nico Hoerner assumed a bad throw on his grounder went out of play (it did not go out of play, so he was tagged out as he very leisurely strolled to second base). Maybe none of that would’ve mattered – either because they wouldn’t have scored anyway or because the Dodgers’ seven runs were always going to be enough – but maybe it would’ve shifted things early. You don’t know, and you can’t be giving away outs on the bases.
So anyway, like I said, the Cubs actually struck the ball better than their bupkis on the scoreboard and lack of hits suggests, but it probably wouldn’t have been enough to make a difference. Drew Smyly was only so-so, and Robert Gsellman got hit hard. At least Sean Newcomb looked really good in his (very low-leverage) 9th inning?
The Dodgers are just so loaded. And Will Smith wasn’t even playing!
