Murderers’ Row

The Chicago Cubs have been romanticized in books, on television, the internet, and overall fandom. The Cubs have played their home games at Wrigley Field since 1916 as the park itself is a national treasure. But more than anything the Cubs have been deemed as the “loveable losers” of professional sports as this organization has not won the World Series since 1908, while they’ve failed to advance to the Fall Classic itself since 1945. And the Cubs have had their fare share of heartache which includes blowing the lead in the National League East in 1969 to the New York Mets, failing to win the National League Championship Series in 1984 after defeating the San Diego Padres in the first two games of the series, and of course blowing the NLCS in 2003 after taking a 3-1 series lead over the Florida Marlins. In 2008, the Cubs won 97 games which was their best season since 1945. But in spite of the Cubs having home-field advantage that October in the NL, they were swept in the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But after that foray in the postseason, things would change drastically for the Cubs. In the summer of 2009, the Cubs were sold to the Ricketts family after the team was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Cubs roster would be gutted as by the 2011, they had lost 91 games. Following the 2011 Major League Baseball season, Theo Epstein would resign as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox to become the Cubs president of baseball operations. Epstein’s arrival in Chicago was met with a ton of excitement as he was the architect that helped the Red Sox win a pair of World Series Titles while ending the organization’s 86-year drought of not winning it all.

Upon joining the Cubs, Epstein would bring his assistant general manager with the Red Sox in Jed Hoyer to the Chicago to be the team’s new general manager. The duo of Epstein and Hoyer had a philosophy of starting over from scratch which meant developing the Cubs minor-league system. In 2012, the Cubs lost 101 games for the first time since 1966, which was followed by a 96-loss campaign in 2013. Over this stretch the only thing that Epstein and Hoyer did to waver from their strategy was replacing managers as in 2013, Dale Sveum got the ax as the Cubs skipper, while his replacement Rick Renteria would only last one year on the North Side of Chicago.

Both firings were surprising, but in Renteria’s case, the market for managers changed following the 2014 Major League Baseball season when Joe Maddon opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. Maddon had tremendous success with the Rays which included leading the team to five playoff appearances in a six-year span, and the organization’s only American League Pennant in 2008. On November 2, 2014, the Cubs named Maddon as their new manager and immediately the tenor of the team changed as Epstein’s plan was beginning to come together.

Maddon inherited a young team with the Cubs, in the mode that he did with the Rays. The Cubs had lost 89 games in 2014, but they were still expected to possibly contend for a playoff berth in 2015. The youngsters for the Cubs such as first baseman Anthony Rizzo and third baseman Kris Bryant would live up to their potential and then some as Chicago would win 97 games en route to their first playoff appearance since 2008. The Cubs took home a ton of individual hardware as Maddon was named the National League’s Manager of the Year, while Bryant was the NL Rookie of the Year, and starting pitcher Jake Arrieta was named the NL Cy Young Award winner.

But as good as the Cubs were, they could not win the National League Central as that honor went to the St. Louis Cardinals who won 100 games. The NL Central was so tightly contested that the Cubs finished in third place in the division behind the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs would defeat the Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game before taking down the Cards in the NLDS. But the Cubs ran into a buzzsaw in the NLCS as they were swept by the New York Mets. However that didn’t stop the Cubs who still had high hopes with their core of youngsters heading into 2016.

Over the winter, the Cubs would sign veteran starting pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Jason Heyward away from the rival Cardinals, while it was a Tampa Bay reunion when utility man Ben Zobrist came to Chicago fresh off helping the Kansas City Royals win the World Series. The Cubs entered the 2016 Major League Baseball season with a loaded team that is living up to the lofty expectations that were thrust onto them.

Through 36 games the Cubs record of 27-9 is the best in Major League Baseball while they have already distanced themselves from the pack in the National League Central as the second-place Pirates are 8 games behind them.

The Cubs began 2016 by sweeping the Los Angeles Angels and they have yet to lose more than two games in a row all season long. Within the National League Central, the Cubs are 15-3 while they’ve only lost one series this season. The Cubs already have an eight-game winning streak under their belts as they’re not only well on their way to winning 100 games, but they could also become the first Cubs team to win at least 105 games since the 1907 Cubs who won 107 games en route to winning the World Series. And of course this start by the Cubs has people in the Windy City thinking about the Fall Classic and rightfully so.

Last year the Cubs pitching staff was soley Arrieta, but things are different this year. Even though that Arrieta is 7-0 with an earned run average of 1.29, he is not the only Cubs starting pitcher that is currently sporting and ERA below 2.00. Starting pitcher Jason Hammel is 5-0 with an earned run average of 1.77 while Jon Lester is 4-2 with an ERA of 1.88. And for Lackey, he is 4-2 with an earned run average of 3.54. The Cubs team earned run average of 2.66 is the best in the National League, and if their pitching wasn’t enough, opponents still have to contend with their lineup.

The Cubs offense is leading the National League in runs scored (213), runs batted in (202), and on-base percentage (.370) as there is not a soft spot in this lineup. Rizzo is leading the Cubs in home runs with 11, while Zobrist and outfielder Dexter Fowler are each sporting batting averages above .300. After the slow start by Bryant, he is getting it going as he’s batting .275 with 6 home runs and 25 runs batted in. Injuries had slowed down Heyward upon his arrival to the Cubs, however he is currently sporting a seven-game hitting streak which has seen his batting average jumps 24 points to .236. And after finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2010, Heyward has shown that he is at his best when he is a part of a deep lineup that takes pressure off of him.

The success of the Cubs has some people believing that Epstein could be the best executive in Major League Baseball right now as he has not only set the Cubs up to win right now, but also for the foreseeable future. There have been renovations to Wrigley Field which has made it more modern, while the Cubs are enjoying life with their new television deal. And what the hot start by the Cubs has done is that is gives Epstein the opportunity to sit back and evaluate his team in the case of making a minor tweak at the trade deadline which could make this team that much more dangerous in October.

The Cubs transformation is the shining example of what happens when companies put the right people in place to succeed. Epstein was given free reign to build this team, and he got himself a manager in Maddon that knows how to develop young players while keeping the atmosphere in the clubhouse loose. And now what the Cubs have is a team that enjoys coming to the ballpark on a daily basis, while their opponents dread it being that this roster doesn’t have any soft spots. The Cubs are expected to go wire-to-wire in the National League Central as they’ve established themselves as the team to beat. Now it just a matter of whether or not they’ll be able to do what no Cubs team has done since 1908, which is to win it all and “reverse the curse”.

Source: Baseball-reference.com