Chicago Cubs: Finding hope in the Red Sox World Series win

An abrupt end to the Chicago Cubs’ 2018 season revealed many issues that need to be addressed, but the Cubs and their fans can find hope in the Boston Red Sox’s World Series victory.

As Chicago Cubs’ fans watched the Boston Red Sox celebrate their fourth championship in the last 15 years, the excitement and hope brought by the 2016 drought-ending World Series win felt far away.

The Cubs’ 2016 roster was young and chock-full of talent. A third consecutive trip to the NLCS in 2017 was promising, but the team looked outclassed by a better Los Angeles Dodgers squad. Fans didn’t get their desired result, yet hope remained in Wrigleyville.

Heading into 2018, a more experienced and developed Cubs’ roster – rejuvenated by exciting offseason signees Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood, and Brandon Morrow – was all but guaranteed another playoff run deep into October.

As the season played out, things just didn’t go right. Injuries mounted, players regressed, and the inconsistent offense remained. The Cubs finished 2018 with 95 wins, but back-to-back losses at home in the NL Central tiebreaker and NL Wild Card Game seemingly pulled the plug on the hope that was so present on the North Side of Chicago just two short years ago.

The Cubs’ young talent was supposed to carry them for the foreseeable future, but two seasons removed from their dramatic World Series win, the start of the offseason has been defined by the discussion of how to fix a squad teeming with holes.

It may be hard to focus on the positive side of things after a devastating end to the season, but Cubs fans can find hope in the Red Sox’s World Series victory. Why? Because the Red Sox were in a similar position just a year ago.

In fact, the stories of the 2018 Cubs and 2017 Red Sox are incredibly similar.

Both teams were built around young talent and had solid offensive seasons, but they struggled to hit for power.

Boston had a huge void in their lineup after David Ortiz retired, and the Cubs had to deal with an extended absence from Kris Bryant. Even when the 2016 NL MVP did work his way back into the lineup, the numbers were a far cry from what they were before the injury.

In the 2018 season, Cubs’ batters produced a line of .258/.333/.410. In 2017, the Red Sox batted .258/.329/.407.

This year’s Cubs’ squad finished 9th in runs with 761. Last year’s Red Sox tallied 785 runs, good for 10th best across both leagues.

The 2018 Cubs finished 22nd among all teams with 167 home runs. The 2017 Red Sox finished 27th as a team with 168 home runs.

It’s not as if either of these teams were lacking big bats. The Cubs had  Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez and the Red Sox had Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi.

Both offenses were solid – they both placed top 10 in total runs scored. However, they also both finished in the bottom 10 in home runs.

It’s really uncanny how similar the teams were offensively, but that isn’t the only thing they have in common.

As a matter of fact, both clubs finished top four in team ERA in their respective seasons. The Cubs had a 3.65 mark in 2018 while the Red Sox sat at 3.70 in 2017.

The Red Sox didn’t dramatically adjust their pitching staff entering the 2018 season, and the Cubs certainly won’t be making too many changes heading into 2019.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the fact that the Red Sox, just like the Cubs in 2016, were able to win it all without any big name homegrown pitchers on the roster. The 2018 Red Sox rotation didn’t include a single player drafted by the team. They were all acquired via free agency or through a trade.

Much has been said about the Cubs inability to develop their own pitchers.  Of course, in an ideal scenario, the Cubs would be bursting at the seams with pitching prospects. In reality that just isn’t the case. The 2018 World Series champions just proved you can win with a pitching staff built outside of the draft.

In the 2017 playoffs, the Red Sox faltered just as the Cubs did in 2018. The Red Sox had a better offensive performance than the North Siders, but in their ALDS defeat to the Houston Astros, they scored fours runs or fewer in all but one of the games that series.

After their postseason elimination, the Red Sox addressed their biggest issue – lack of power. The team made a statement addition, signing the biggest bat on the free agent market, J.D. Martinez. The Red Sox went on to hit 208 homers in 2018, finishing ninth among all major league teams.

We all know how the rest of the season played out in Boston. The Red Sox went from a flawed team built around a young, talented core to the best team in baseball from start to finish in one offseason.

The core of the Cubs’ team is much like the Red Sox a year ago. It needs tinkering, but not a total overhaul.

Adding Bryce Harper or Manny Machado, much like Boston did with Martinez, can take the offense to a new level. Combine a revived lineup with some impact additions to the bullpen, and the Cubs will once again be a World Series favorite heading into the 2019 season.

The Red Sox laid out the formula, the Cubs just have to follow it.