Chicago Cubs: the Cubs actually won a road game…barely

The Chicago Cubs are one of the worst road teams in the National League. They’re in rare form on their current road trip, and the bullpen may be imploding. The team actually won a road game on Saturday.

For the Chicago Cubs, this season has truly been a case of a team that resembles Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

At home, this team plays great and holds a 41-19 record. That’s good for the second-best home record in the NL.

On the road, this team (and their manager) turns into a group of bumbling, second-rate players who can’t get guys out and make errors in the field. It’s sometimes astonishing to see the difference in play these Cubs display when they’re not at Wrigley.

The Cubs currently have a 24-39 record on the road. It’s nearly impossible to explain how this team is so drastically different away from Chicago, and that’s what makes this situation even more frustrating.

Teams deal with this from time to time in all sports. But the Cubs’ road woes could cost them a chance at the postseason with how bad this has gotten.

Take a look at a guy like Kyle Hendricks. At home, he looks like the Cy Young contender of old and holds a 1.98 ERA. On the road, his stats look more like Edwin Jackson’s during his time with the Cubs. Hendricks’ road ERA is 4.76.

It makes no sense. And to top it all off, the Cubs tested their fans’ patience this week with three separate quality starts resulted in losses. The team’s depleted bullpen gave up runs in the late innings in each game. Each of these pitching lines resulted in a no-decision:

Cubs fans are beyond frustrated with how this team is playing. But on Saturday, the team did the unthinkable and actually won a road game. The win snapped a four-game losing streak.

You read that right, the Cubs went to PNC Park to face the vaunted Pittsburgh Pirates (who boast a strong 51-71 record) and came away with a victory. This is one day after the bullpen blew another late lead and the Pirates won 3-2 in walk-off fashion.

But who cares about that? The Cubs won a road game. Our long nightmare is over. But even if the Cubs win on Sunday, they’ll finish this 10-game road trip at 4-6. That’s not terrible, but it stings more considering the three games the team gave away late.

Not to mention the fact that the Cubs faced the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Pirates on this road trip. The Phillies aren’t terrible, but the Cubs should’ve stomped down their two division rivals.

Saturday’s incredible road win was more like a test to see just how far the Cubs could push their fans towards having full-blown meltdowns. The team scored all of two runs and the game was scoreless until the 7th inning.

That’s when Kris Bryant hit a solo home run to put the Cubs up 1-0. Bryant decided to get in on the fun and test Cubs fans’ ability to cope by committing errors in two consecutive innings before redeeming himself.

The Pirates were happy to again make the heart rates of Cubs fans fly through the roof at various points in the game. The Pirates had the bases loaded in the 3rd, 5th, and 7th innings and never scored. They stranded 11 runners in total.

The Cubs barely beat a team that’s 7-26 since the All-Star break. Something is off with this team, and it’s hard to pinpoint right now. The Cubs will have to grin and bear it on the road for two more months. If there’s no playoff baseball in Chicago this year, expect big changes.