NEWSLETTER
Thanks to the feel of the last week, I was curious, from a record standpoint, if the Cubs’ current bad month matched last year’s bad month. Why does it feel even worse?
Last season’s “bad month,” which was really more like a month and a quarter, from April 28 (the sweep in Miami) until June 9 (the sweep in Anaheim). During that stretch, the Cubs went 12-26, a .316 winning percentage. Obviously we know the Cubs got blistering hot after that and warded off a sell-off at the deadline, but we also remember just how terrible things felt at the time.
By contrast, the current “bad month” is more like a bad three and a half weeks, from May 6 (after winning the series against the Brewers at Wrigley, and being tied for first place in the Central) through today. During this stretch, the Cubs have gone 7-15, a .318 winning percentage. So a nearly identical stretch, albeit a little shorter. No wonder this is popping into everyone’s mind.
This year’s arguably feels worse, though, because (1) the team was expected to be better, and (2) you can shorten it to the last 16 games and the Cubs are just 4-12. Abysmal.
So, on the whole, which has been worse? Meh. It doesn’t matter. It was awful last year, it’s been awful this year. Hopefully the turnaround this year will come more quickly, will be even more significant, and will actually stick. I have no interest in repeating the trajectory of last season, especially given how agonizing the final two months were. Heck, in a lot of ways, being that close in EVERY single game, and being that close to a playoff spot EVERY single day – all for naught – was a more miserable experience than the “bad month” earlier in the year.
Try again. That’ll be the mindset in which I attempt to place myself after every bad series until and unless a playoff spot becomes no longer realistic.
And for as deeply frustrated and concerned as we all are at this point (rightly so), there is still SO MUCH season left. We have seen before – annually, really – teams go through terrible stretches, where the results are bad and seem largely deserved, and then they turn it around. We can debate how likely that is with this group, but my head knows that making grand evaluative pronouncements on May 31 rarely makes sense. So, try again to win a series.
