The Chicago Cubs ended their 2018 postseason run before itbegan as they fell to the Colorado Rockies 2-1 in 13 innings. Overall, it was a fitting end to a frustrating season. Despite winning 95 games, it never truly felt like this team was “special”.
They had the special moments, the walk-offs, the come-from-behind victories, but at the end of the day, this team was just…decent. They had a string of bad luck with offseason acquisitions like Tyler Chatwood and Yu Darvish being worthless, and outside of Javy Baez becoming a MVP candidate and Jason Heyward becoming less-miserable at the plate, the entire offense regressed. They were simply a boom or bust team, and that’s not going to work in October. This team just never had the characteristics to make a deep playoff run, and perhaps that’s why I’m not angry about the season ending. That being said, there are things that clearly need to change before 2019 if this team wants to get back to the World Series. First off, I’m hoping Chili Davis is fired by the time I’m done writing this. I’m not even going to go into great detail about this because everything’s old news. The offense in Boston was ineffective with him as hitting coach and has become one of the most explosive in baseball without him. I’m not saying he’s 100% to blame for this offensive collapse, but a collection of proven offensive studs in their prime shouldn’t regress this hard. Getting Chili out immediately should be priority number one. While fans are going to criticize Joe Maddon for how he managed big games, he shouldn’t be fired. He was dealt a terrible hand with Darvish only collecting one win, Chatwood being a bust, numerous injuries and off the field issues with Addison Russell. Maddon gets on my nerves, but he’s the only man that could’ve managed this team to this much success. All things considered, walking away with 95 victories is incredible. Moving forward, Cubs fans shouldn’t be disappointed for long. This offense should bounce back as long as they bring in a new hitting coach, which I can’t imagine they wouldn’t do. The Chili Davis experiment failed and it’s time to move on. This team won’t be losing many crucial pieces moving forward, so there’s no reason to think this team won’t be in playoff contention in 2019. Add in the fact that this offseason can be incredibly special with players like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado being available with the Cubs expected to be in play for both players. In order for the Cubs fans to feel comfortable heading into the 2019 season, there will need to be a new hitting coach, they need to pick up Cole Hamels’ option, Darvish needs to fully recover and be fresh, and they need to sign either Machado or Harper. If those things happen, there’s no reason to think this team won’t be ready to contend in 2019.
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Kyle MalzhanFounder who is an aspiring journalist who covers the Chicago Cubs daily. Archives
April 2020
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