(Quick note before we get started: I was doing a Google Image search for Alfonso Soriano to head this column. I typed in the word "Alfonso" and Soriano's name came up second in the list of suggestions. The top one: Alfonso Ribeiro. Yes, Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is the most popular Alfonso on Google. Moving on...)
Having been a Cubs fan for my entire life, I've gotten used to certain things from them.
There's always going to be losing, and some seasons the team will be downright awful. You don't enjoy it, but you do expect it, so that softens a little of the blow. It's during those seasons that you sit back, watch the games on WGN and think "wait til next year."
There's also always going to be a season here and there where the Cubs suddenly get hot, win the Division, and cruise to the playoffs before blowing it. It's always a heartbreaking loss in which the team suddenly falls apart and cant hit anything, but that regular season dominance captivated you and keeps you coming back for more.
For my entire life as a Cubs fan, it's been these two types of seasons year after year. 2003 was a great run until the heartbreak in the NLCS. 1999 and 2000 were dismal years. Throughout, it's always been one of the two types of seasons.
But this year has proven to be the most frustrating of all.
The Cubs aren't bad this year, but they aren't very good, either. At 48-45, they aren't having a tremendously successful season, and yet as it stands right now they are only two games back of the NL Central-leading Cardinals.
The plate production has been abysmal. They're 28th in the MLB in batting average (.247), 27th in hits, and 25th in RBIs. And yet, the pitching has been solid. They're sixth in ERA (3.80), second in strikeouts (710), and third in opponent batting average (.243).
Milton Bradley was an awful free agent signing, and his antics haven't helped the Cubs. Alfonso Soriano has been a $17 million question mark, driving fans crazy with his inconsistency. But Ryan Theriot has been solid at the top of the order, and Derek Lee has rebounded into a nice season.
It's been a decidedly middle-of-the-road season, and it leaves me wondering how I should feel about it.
Yes, I'm happy that the Cubs are in the hunt for the division lead, but the Central is bad this year. Yes, Soriano has hit 16 home runs, but he's also struck out a team-high 88 times (though 85 games!).
This has been the hardest season of all to root for the Cubs, simply because of the glaring mediocrity of the team. There hasn't been any clear cut moment where the Cubs have looked like they can get hot, but they haven't been bad enough to make you check out of this season and wait til next year. They're playing at just the right level to leave you at a frustrated middle ground - you never get too excited or too bummed out by anything.
You don't want to root for a team that's played as poorly as the Cubs have, but you don't want to be too hard on them either, because they're still in it.
How do you even approach a season like this?
How are you supposed to react when your starting pitchers are a combined 26-22 and still pitching is considered your strong suit? What do you do when you see the Cubs and Cards in a race backwards, seeing which team will lose itself out of contention first?
This is the type of season no fans wants to endure. You check the standings every day, and there hasn't seemed to have been changes since May for the Cubs. You could've stopped watching the Cubs after the first month-and-a-half and still not not missed anything since then. "They're still just three games over .500?"
That's been the frustrating thing about this season - no matter the situation, there always seems to be a factor that brings the Cubs back to equilibrium, keeping them hovering in that mediocre limbo. It's rough as a fan, because it makes you just want to scream at them "if you want to be winners, fine. If you want to be losers, that's your decision. BUT JUST PICK ONE!"
There have always been two kinds of Cubs seasons. The good ones get you excited for an improbable playoff run. The bad ones leave you feeling drained but looking forward to next year.
And then there's seasons like 2009, which don't make you feel much of anything.
1 comment:
Like the piece man. I think it sucks for a lot of Cubs fans because a couple of years ago the fans were sucked in this "We're going to win it now" mentality where they spent a whole boat load of money on free agents. The problem is a lot of the free agent tanked, chemistry on the team has been a mess and fans have got irritated about it because it's like "You spent all this money on this team?"
I really feel for Cubs fans because the mentality for most Cubs fans is "Let's see a game at the ballpark"-friendly. However, because of the popularity of the Red Sox, I think a lot of pink hat Cubs fans have jumped on the bandwagon and brought a bitter, Red Sox-esque fan approach to Wrigley that wasn't there before maybe ten-fifteen years ago.
Personally, I think the team needs to be blown up with a new manager and GM and plan instilled. Yet considering the economy, and ownership changing, that probably isn't going to happen. And with the contracts some guys have (Soriano), they seem to be stuck with this team for at least a couple of more years.
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