Winning Is Fun, Which Means Cubs Baseball Is Very Fun Right Now
When it comes to Cubs baseball, there used to be a planet-sized weight strapped to the franchise’s ankle that grew larger with each passing year of futility. Even if they’d have been able to free themselves from the shackle binding them to it, the accumulated failures of the past had created a nigh inescapable gravity field. Then came a baseball rocket scientist named Theo Epstein, who constructed both a plan and a craft that would break the Cubs loose.
The only problem, as evidenced by all the hoopla surrounding the 2016 World Series title, is that success can build at least as effective a prison. Just ask the Bears how things have worked out since that Super Bowl XX victory. Sure, the confines are friendly, but there’s been a dullness since Anthony Rizzo came down from the mountaintop bearing the Commissioner’s Trophy. While I hold that 2015 was actually more fun due to the abject lack of expectations, I doubt you’ll find a Cubs fan who would say anything other than ’16 was the best season they’ve ever seen.
It’s like experiencing the Platonic ideal of a chair, only to then be forced to go back and use highly imperfect recreations in perpetuity. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, one of several prisoners chained in a cave escapes and is able to feel the sun upon his face. The (literally) enlightened prisoner returns to the cave to share what he’s learned, but he encounters only bitterness and antagonism.
That is certainly applicable to broader societal commentary, but it holds true for the Cubs as well. Except, I guess, that all of us got to walk around in the sun for a while before being shunted back to the cave. While there have been pockets of enjoyment, each has fallen well short of ecstasy. Part of what made that all-too-brief period of ultimate success so enjoyable was that it felt like the team was right there with us.
In the time since, however, there’s been a more workmanlike vibe surrounding the Cubs. It’s as though they’re just punching the clock and waiting for their respective shifts to end, with some players perhaps exemplifying that sense more than others. At the risk of turning recent success into something much bigger, it does feel as though something has shifted this season.
Maybe it’s Tom Ricketts green-lighting a big free agent contract for Alex Bregman, or it could be Jed Hoyer getting aggressive with a trade while also inking stars to nine-figure extensions. But those are merely table-setters for what strikes me as a team that has remembered how to have fun in spite of the expectations. Possibly even because of them.
As easy as it would be to point to Alex Bregman, who changed his jersey number from 2 to 3 because he wants to win a third championship — and in deference to Nico Hoerner — it’s important to look deeper. I’m talking about a former No. 22 overall pick who toiled for nearly seven years to make the majors and then found himself being designated for assignment by the Rockies, of all teams.
The Cubs snagged lefty reliever Ryan Rolison off waivers in January, figuring he could serve as depth for a bullpen that was anything but guaranteed. That actually made four different organizations for Rolison in under two months. The Rockies designated him for assignment on November 18, then the Braves traded for him a day later. Atlanta DFA’d him on December 11, after which the White Sox claimed him. They rostered him for 11 days.
“Me and my wife got married [in Chicago] January 10, and so I knew that the deadline for my last waiver was January 7, and that was the time we were flying here for our wedding,” Rolison explained earlier in the month. “And as soon as we landed in Chicago, I had a text on my phone saying, ‘This is Jared Banner with the Cubs, we just claimed you off waivers.’
“And so, that was kind of a cool story for me and my wife and my family, just to kick off the weekend like that. It was a very special moment.”
The southpaw’s numbers in the minors were fair at best, and his performance over 31 appearances with Colorado indicated that expecting anything approaching mediocrity at the highest level would be a stretch. But the Cubs quickly became desperate for live arms as reliever after reliever came up lame, so Rolison got the call. All he’s done since is go 3-0 with some gutty performances that include three scoreless innings against the Dodgers and wins in each of the Cubs’ walk-offs of the Reds.
Over his last two innings, Rolison has struck out five of the seven batters he’s faced with no hits and one walk allowed. There’s something to be said for going out there and playing like you’d got nothing to lose, and that’s what Rolison personifies about this team. From the top down, they seem to have shrugged off the notion that things have to be done a certain way. Craig Counsell‘s decisions are working in part because no one cares who gets the glory or why they might be playing the exact role they thought they’d have.
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had, maybe in my life,” Rolison said after Tuesday’s win. “It’s unbelievable coming to work every day with these guys, I just feel like the team is so close and we’re just out there having fun. It feels like I’m living a dream.”
Rather than viewing expectations as a standard to which they’re beholden, the Cubs are embracing success as a product of the process. That’s no different from the way Counsell has them feeling about Wrigley Field’s shifting conditions. What some have viewed as a handicap has now become a boon to a team that is able to win in a variety of ways. At no point has that been clearer than in the past two games.
Whether it’s a walk-off homer from one of the last guys on the bench or a bouncing ball up the middle that gets biffed, the Cubs keep finding ways to win. They are making their own luck, and the result is a 13-game home winning streak with seven in a row overall and 17 wins over their last 20 games.
“Nights like these,” Michael Busch responded when asked what he enjoyed most about Wrigley. “The fans make it the best place in the world to play, and I’m just thankful to be a Cub.”
For me, the best part about this whole stretch isn’t just that the Cubs keep winning nearly every night. It’s that we all — or most of us, anyway — expect the losses to be little more than speed bumps. This team is able to course-correct in a manner that some of its predecessors haven’t, and that’s what I find most refreshing. We’ll have to wait until October to judge just how fun this ride was on the whole, but I know I’m enjoying the hell out of it right now.
