Chicago Cubs: Great teams hardly make excuses when losing
The Chicago Cubs have plenty of great players on their roster, yet there always seems to be one excuse made after another for their underachieving play. Much of that has to do with the team’s own philosophy as well as how they’re treated routinely by their die-hard fans.
When things are going right for the Chicago Cubs, they’re as fun to watch as any professional team regardless of what sport they’re in. The Cubs have a fan-base that’ll support them through thick and thin, no matter what the circumstances are. In other words: baseball on the North Side of Chicago is a great place to play, regardless if the team struggles to win games.
That obviously is both a good and a bad thing, especially if you’re the actual players and coaches within the Cubs’ organization. The media won’t completely turn on a player or coach simply because they’re struggling, given that all it takes nowadays for forgiveness from both fans and media pundits is one sweet blowout victory or a dominate pitching performance on the mound. It’s easier than ever for the Cubs as a result to flip the narrative surrounding them.
So many fans have become oblivious to the Cubs’ cunning ways. This is a team who on paper looks like they should compete for a World Series championship each year, yet once the season begins, the Cubs simply play down to their competition, rather than ahead.
As a result, blame for the Cubs’ maddening struggles through the course of the season get thrown in all sorts of directions. Joe Maddon, for instance, might cite guys being out due to injury as an excuse for poor play. Or the media and fans will fall under the notion that the Cubs haven’t had a day off in 30 days which is why they’re fatigued all the time and thus blowing late-game leads.
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Yet, the Cubs are still struggling now and they’re getting more rest than ever before with all these off days received following the all-star break. One game, it’s the relief pitching that self-implodes during a critical moment. The next game, the starting pitcher gets battered around from the opposing team’s offense and can’t make it past five innings in a loss. Following that, a dominant performance on the mound is wasted by a Cubs’ offense that suddenly goes cold.
The Cubs have lost many games this season for a number of reasons …starting with Maddon’s bizarre decision-making. While these obviously are valid excuses being made for their season-long struggles, the harsh reality right now is that the Cubs are just not talented enough to be considered a series threat to winning the World Series.
The fact that there are so many excuses being thrown around the entire organization for their mishaps proves that the Cubs are just not good enough to win another World Series championship anytime soon unless everyone affiliated with the organization: players, coaches, general manager, fans, media, etc. stops relaying the same excuses over and over following a loss. But doing so at this point seems nearly impossible, given the culture that surrounds this organization.
Why can’t the Cubs simply start acting like the New England Patriots? An organization who year after year deals with game-planning around injuries to key players, while welcoming in a new supporting cast of players and coaches, yet still finds a way to win games and championships because of their no-nonsense approach.
The Patriots are as tight-lipped of an organization in sports that you’ll find. They don’t make notable excuses for their struggles on the field. Instead, they move on following a loss rather quickly, focusing on their next opponent before the first post-game news conference question gets asked.
If only the Cubs’ organization followed that same approach, rather than finding new ways to feel sorry for themselves while dwelling on losses. All us fans deserve to be at fault for helping encourage this type of behavior that the Cubs organization has adopted for so long. Even when they were losing 90-plus games a year, fans hardly held them accountable, but rather still loved them. Hence, why they were called the “lovable losers” for the longest time.
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The Cubs’ clubhouse has unfortunately recognized the unwavering support of fans to this day, which is why they feel the urge to recycle old excuses from year’s past when mentioning why they’re struggling. Because they know everyone outside of the organization will buy into these excuses with ease, thus giving them a free pass with every loss.
It’s become a glaring problem, with no end in sight.