Chicago Cubs: A review of the 2015 season
Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
After Cole Hamels threw a no-hitter against the Cubs and after the Philadelphia Phillies (the Phillies!) swept them at Wrigley Field, the team was basically a .500 team, owning the 11th-best record in baseball.
This was not a team that was going to make a serious playoff run.
Then Maddon put Kyle Schwarber’s name in the lineup permanently.
Since that day in late July, the Cubs flew high with Schwarber.
Schwarber helped turn the Cubs’ offense into a powerhouse. For a good part of the season, the offense had its moments of sputter, having more difficulties scoring than the Chicago Bulls offense with Tom Thibodeau as coach.
Just weeks before Schwarber was helping the Cubs make a playoff run, he was winning the MVP of the Futures Game. Before that, he was the Cubs’ first round pick of the 2014 draft. Talk about a skyrocketing career.
In just 69 games and 232 at-bats, Schwarber hit 16 home runs and had 43 RBI.
Schwarber was also big for the Cubs in the postseason. He hit .333/.419/.889, with a club-postseason record of 5 home runs and 8 RBI. He also went into Cubs’ lore with a moonshot in the NLDS that landed on top of the Budweiser sign which sat on the right field video board. That ball was permanently affixed on the sign.
The Cubs were a different team with Schwarber in the lineup. We shall see if he stays there in 2016.
Next: Castro Does Not Rock the Boat