NEWSLETTER
For a team roughly on pace for 100 wins through the first 10% of the season, the 2024 Chicago Cubs sure are a roller coaster.
Through 17 games, the Cubs have endured injuries to Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, Julian Merryweather, Justin Steele, and Seiya Suzuki. They’ve watched their rookie first baseman, Michael Busch, tie Chicago Cubs home run history. Their closer, Adbert Alzolay, has blown a league-leading three saves. They’ve seen the extra innings three times. They have a trio of young or rookie starters leading a broken rotation. They’ve won games because of wild pitches and walk-off manager challenges. They’ve scored at least 8 runs seven times. And on, and on.
One of the craziest things to happen this year was when they blew an 8-0 lead in San Diego, which was the franchise’s worst loss of the sort in over two decades. And last night, they made the wrong kind of history again with their 12-11 loss to Arizona.
Yeah. Obviously, when you score 11 runs it’s usually enough to win any game. And then some. But this is more than that. Ignore how many runs the Cubs actually did score and consider how much they probably should have. I mean, they logged three walks and 14(!) hits including four doubles, three triples, and a grand slam. When the Yankees did that 100 years ago, it resulted in 21 runs. The Cubs put up 11 last night. And Kyle Hendricks plus an absolutely gassed bullpen couldn’t hold it.
So while the start of this season has certainly been entertaining, I’d love it if the Cubs could stop making (the wrong kind of) history.
