Chicago Cubs: Jon Lester Will Come Through for the Cubs, But...
Jon Lester will take the mound at Wrigley Field at 8:08 PM ET tonight to begin the Chicago Cubs’ quest for another day and another game in this year’s World Series. He will deliver because he’s Jon Lester. The question, though, is what about the rest of his teammates?
This is nothing new to Jon Lester. He’s pitched in these do-or-die games before and he will not let his teammates or the city of Chicago down. He’ll go out there and throw his two- and four-seam fastball until his arm falls off if he has to. Because he’s Jon Lester. The question though is whether or not his Chicago Cubs teammates will show up and do the same.
Will Jon Lester’s Teammates Show Up?
Because you have to ask yourself, has Kris Bryant (1 HR, 6 RBI in the postseason) looked like Kris Bryant? How about Anthony Rizzo (2 HR, 7 RBI)? Or Javier Baez, who has the same stats as Rizzo in the postseason?
The Cubs have simply not hit in this World Series and it’s cost them dearly. Yes, they’ve run up against some pretty good pitching. But what would they be expecting when you are facing one of the two best teams in baseball this year?
And it’s not the fact that they weren’t prepared. Because no team of Joe Maddon is ever not prepared. And it’s also not the incessant hype of the media with this obsession about the 108-year drought thing. Maddon seems to have led them through that.
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What it could be, though, is that this is a team that is not quite ready for prime time yet. At times, they’ve looked like a deer caught in the headlights in the batter’s box. And that start by Corey Kluber in Game 1 when he fanned (and made look silly) eight of the first nine Cubs he faced? That was the roughest start to a World Series ever and this young team was affected by it.
No one wants to think this, except maybe FOX, but maybe this team needs another year in order to bloom in the way everyone agrees they are capable of. Because although they played in last year’s NLCS and ran into a runaway train, they did not get a taste of the World Series. And judging from everyone who has played in one, the World Series is just different. And now they’re having a taste of that, too.
The Elephant in the Room
Then, of course, there’s the elephant in the room: the Cleveland Indians who are busy writing their own chapter into their legacy. Inevitably, the question will be asked, are the Indians the better team? Surely not, at least on paper. But the difference so far at least is that the Indians are all about “team” and they’ve played that way, while the team on the north side of Chicago has not.
With Jon Lester pitching, the Cubs should and probably will win the game tonight to move the series back to Cleveland. But you don’t win a world championship playing the way they have. Can they regroup and come back to win the next three? Of course they can.
And if you want to check the numbers in terms of World Series history, they certainly are on the Indians’ side. Since baseball established the 2-3-2 format for the Fall Classic in 1925 – only deviating for two years during World War II – 34 teams have grabbed a 3-1 advantage. They have won 29 of those series, including each of the past 10. (MLB.com)
It has to start somewhere if the Cubs are going to make history in a way they never wanted or expected to. And Jon Lester is the right man to have on the mound to get the ball rolling, if it’s ever going to roll.
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