World Series: It's time to see what the Cubs are made of
It was never going to be easy.
It couldn't be.
And while the Cleveland Indians deserve all the credit you can throw their way, it has to be said that the Cubs sure are making this whole winning the World Series thing difficult on themselves.
Friday night, in Game 3 of the Fall Classic, the Cubs were only able to muster two hits off Josh Tomlin (regular-season ERA 4.40) in 4 2/3 innings and found only three more against his replacements as Chicago was shut out for the fourth time in its last eight games.
The Cubs now trail the Indians 2-1 in the World Series and Cleveland has regained home-field advantage, with the guarantee the series will return to Ohio for at least one game.
Game 4 represents something close to a must-win for the Cubs, and given all the pressure already on the team, that's an unwelcome, but self-imposed, development.
The circumstances for getting out of the hole and evening the series — despite all the talk on Twitter about 3-1 leads, it's forgotten just how overwhelming they can be — couldn't be less advantageous for the Cubs, either. Their fourth starter, John Lackey, will take his 5.63 playoff ERA to the mound against American League Cy Young favorite Corey Kluber, who, while on three days rest, is coming off a dominant performance over the Cubs in Game 1.
No one can say if Kluber will be as effective on short rest, but the fact of the matter is that he well could be, and that is a foreboding proposition for Chicago, whose starter is yet to get out of the fourth inning in two postseason starts this year.
Well, not exactly this situation — this is their first World Series since 1945 — but something similar: they were down 2-1 to the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
In that series, the bats — particularly those of Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, and Ben Zobrist — were deep in a slump. You can't say the Cubs' current predicament is all that similar — the Indians are just working them over with pitching; there are no opportunities to be missed.
In Game 4 of the NLCS, the Cubs broke out for 10 runs and never looked back in the series, winning the pennant in six games. Such a performance is, of course, possible in the World Series, but against Cleveland's ace starter and Andrew Miller, who will likely be available for Game 4 after only throwing 17 pitches Friday night, is it probable?
There are several questions that come into play for the Cubs now that they face a deficit and a "don't call it a" must-win Game 4:
Would things be different if Kyle Schwarber had been cleared to play the outfield?
Was it prudent to keep Jason Heyward on the bench for Game 3? You could argue his defense might have prevented Cleveland's only run.
If the Cubs had started the series down 2-0 and gotten it to 2-1 Friday, would Jon Lester be pitching Game 4? Was it prudent to lock in Lackey for a critical game like Saturday's?
What happened to Kris Bryant's bat? He's hitting .091 with a .322 OPS in the World Series. It's three games, but still, he's looked out-of-sorts up there.
And is Wrigley Field — and the overwhelming fatalism of Chicago fans — a disadvantage for the Cubs?
The Cubs barely have time to contemplate these questions.
And that might be for the best — analysis can cause mental paralysis. There's no time for that in Chicago — it is time to see what this Cubs team — which won 103 games and broke a 71-year pennant drought — is really made of.
