Cubs continue to show they have what it takes to weather the storm
If David Ross was panicking about the Cubs’ 2-8 stretch, he didn’t show it Tuesday.
In his pregame press conference with media, Ross was calm. If you had just been dropped in with no context, you couldn’t tell the team’s struggles.
And that’s the way he wanted it to be.
“I don’t think me yelling and screaming in the locker room does a whole lot of good and I don’t think me being any different in any way, like trying to relax or trying to say something to a certain player pulls a lot of weight,” Ross said.
It’s pretty much the same message Ross has carried all season; trust in the day-to-day and never let the moments — good or bad — become too much.
During the recent slump, the Cubs were outscored 48-33. Their main issues came with runners in scoring position, as the Cubs produced only 22 runs, a .257 batting average and 2 extra-base hits in 90 plate appearances in such situations during that stretch.
“Like with any slump or downturn, it comes down to we haven’t gotten the big hits in the big moments,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “We didn’t do that early in the season. Obviously, we talked about that a lot.”
So, what needed to happen to snap out of the funk?
“You just need something to turn it, really,” Ross said. “Feels like we haven’t gotten that big double in the gap or the 3-run homer. Getting guys in in crucial situations from third, less than two outs little things like that.
“Somebody throws a ball in the gap, hits a big homer. Something will make it turn. Whatever that is.”
That something might have happened 8 pitches into Tuesday’s game.
With Nico Hoerner on first, Dansby Swanson delivered a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 1st that jump-started the Cubs’ offense explosion en route to a 14-1 win over the Pirates.
After sweeping the Giants on Sept. 7, the Cubs sat just 2 games back of the Brewers in the NL Central and had a 3-game cushion on Arizona for the second Wild Card spot. Entering Wednesday, the Cubs are a half-game up on Miami for the final Wild Card spot and 6 games back of Milwaukee in the division.
But, while much of the buzz around Cubs fans centered around worry given the tough stretch, the Cubs refused to look at it that way. After all, like Hoyer said, this was a team that had faced their share of adversity.
“I think that obviously every team in baseball — maybe except for the Braves — have been through a challenging stretch of the year in one way or another,” Nico Hoerner said. “I think just it creates confidence in the group that we’ve come back from big deficits, we’ve come back from deficits in the playoff race already this year.”
In June, the Cubs were swept in Anaheim and looked like a team that had their days numbered.
“This team sort of stared down being broken up at the trade deadline,” Hoyer said. “And they played with a lot of pressure during that period. Coming out of the All-Star break, I think there was a realization that if we don’t play really well, up to the deadline that that was gonna happen.”
The Cubs responded with a .596 winning percentage since the Midsummer Classic and went from a fringe playoff contender to a bonafide challenger in the National League.
Tuesday night’s victory might have put them back on that path.
“We just needed a game like today to keep [on] winning,” said Alexander Canario, whose 8th inning grand slam helped break the game open. “Honestly, we have a really good team, a really united team and thankfully we were able to achieve it.”
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