The Chicago Cubs rallied to win on Friday over National League Central rivals the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2. The win snapped Chicago’s losing streak of six straight games.
The Cubs now sit at 26-27 for the season, one where most expected Chicago to win 100 games and to repeat as champion in the World Series.
The overwhelming majority thought at the least the Cubs would win the NL Central again. However, they started June below .500 and struggling.
Injuries have not played that much of a part in the slow start. Addison Russell, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist have nagging injuries but every club has that to deal with. The Cubs had more meaningful players injured during last season’s first week yet were 25-6 to start the season.
Some changes were made. Dexter Fowler the center fielder and leadoff hitter left to play for the Cardinals. David Ross the clubhouse leader and backup catcher retired, Aroldis Chapman the closer returned to the Yankees and Jason Hammel a fifth starter left.
However, none of those have affected the play of the Cubs with the exception maybe of Fowler since he made things happen by getting on base.
There has been a thought that the Cubs were suffering from a hangover from the World Series. However, the Royals who won the World Series in 2015 won 14 fewer games during 2016 and did not reach the playoffs. The 2015 Giants missed the postseason after winning 4 fewer games than in 2014.
The 2014 Boston Red Sox finished last in the AL East after winning 26 fewer games than in 2013 when they won the Series. Not since the 2011 and 2012 Cardinals has a team that won the World Series returned to the playoffs the next season.
It is not easy to play your best throughout a 162-game regular season and extended bad streaks take place. The Cubs started last season 25-6, and following the All-Star game were 50-23, but between the two were just 28-29. Things happen.
Last season the Cubs had poor stretches of losing 6 of 8 games followed by 15 losses over 20 games, yet they finished with 103 wins.
The season is very long and not until it is over can a real analysis be done between last year and this year.