Da Windy City
Fansided

Chicago Cubs’ Leaders Getting Hot At Right Time

By Carlos Nazario

facebooktwitterreddit

The Chicago Cubs are fighting for a playoff spot. Two of their leaders, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and pitcher Jon Lester, are stepping up at the right time to try to lead them over the top and finally get back to the postseason. 

About a week ago, we were worried about the Cubs’ season collapsing. They lost their lead for the final playoff spot in the National League and were fading.

Then came a five game winning streak, and things are now moving the other way.

The Cubs are back on top, holding a tenuous half-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who are starting to cool off (they blew a six-run lead and lost to Atlanta on Monday night).

The two notable leaders on the Cubs, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and pitcher Jon Lester, are flexing their leadership muscles over this winning streak.

After a hot start to the season, Rizzo cooled off a bit in July. He hit .250/.372/.413, with four home runs and 13 RBI. That was a change from the start of the season through the end of June, when he hit .300/.408/.560, with 15 home runs and 44 RBI.

Over the Cubs’ current five-game winning streak, Rizzo has gotten hot once again. He is hitting .421/.450/1.105, with four home runs and 10 RBI. He homered in four of the five games during the streak.

Lester missed most of spring training, and as a result, he struggled early on. He was 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA after the first month. After that, however, his ERA has steadily gone down.

After a July in which he owned a 1.66 ERA, a 0.76 WHIP (he also took two no-hitters late into games), he now has a 3.23 and a 1.16 WHIP for the season.

Both players are trying their best to put the team on their shoulders and lead them into the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Of course, Lester knows the feeling of helping his team win a World Series title, while Rizzo is just leading on pure emotion.

More from Chicago Cubs

Being the most battle-tested player on the roster, Lester advised the young Cubbies to just be naive and soak up the experience.

"This is going to sound really bad, but I’ve always been a big believer in playing stupid. Being naive. I’ve seen it with the Rays in 2008. They were naïve to the situation. They had nothing to lose. We have nothing to lose. We’re not supposed to win. We’re supposedly in the rebuilding stages. If we make the playoffs, it’s just an added bonus… I can sit here until I’m blue in the face and talk to these guys about what to expect and for the stretch run. I’ve been through it all. I’ve been up 10 games and went home. I’ve been down and we got in the playoffs. I’ve been ahead the whole year and did the same thing. So it doesn’t matter until you do it. The biggest thing these guys can learn is just going through it. Whether we’re there or not, you just go to go through and build on those experiences, and the next year you come out and build on that."

It will be interesting to see if the other Cubs will break out as well. Rizzo and Lester cannot do it themselves. Jake Arrieta has pitched lights out as well, carrying the rotation while Lester got back into his rhythm, but Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks have been hit-or-miss so far. There is also newcomer Dan Haren, who was picked up to solidify the back of the rotation.

On offense, Kris Bryant has been struggling. During the winning streak, he is hitting just 0.087, so he needs to hit his second breath and hit the way he did earlier. And let’s not forget Starlin Castro, who has been in a season-long slump. If he can hit how we know he can, it will be a big shot in the arm for the Cubs.

Let’s see if Rizzo and Lester can help their teammates get the Cubs over the top. Even if they can’t, they will at least have more experience to learn from, and get that better prepared for another run.

Next: Chicago Cubs Face Fellow Playoff Contenders To Start August

More from Da Windy City

Home/Chicago Cubs