Chicago Cubs: Inconsistencies remind fans of last season

The Chicago Cubs looked to be getting things together after sweeping the Mets in New York last week. Then the team returned home and returned to the inconsistent play that’s frustrated fans all season.

As the calendar turned to September, the Chicago Cubs attempted to stay close to the red hot St. Louis Cardinals, who remain in first place in the NL Central. Going into last weekend, the Cubs appeared primed to go on an extended winning streak.

It ended as a disappointing weekend that featured two losses to the Milwaukee Brewers in which the team scored no runs. The Cubs now look like they could be reliving the same nightmare of inconsistent hitting from last season.

I hate to remind everyone about how last year ended in misery after consecutive losses in a one-game playoff for the division and the NL Wild Card game. But it must be done.

So what happened that turned these last few days from a feeling of hope to one of concern and fear for re-watching an ending we’ve seen before? It’s hard to say, but the team’s performance at the plate continues to baffle.

The Cubs were all over the place starting in mid-August. After getting swept on the road by the Philadelphia Phillies, the team got a much-needed road series win in Pittsburgh and then stayed hot at home when they swept the San Francisco Giants,

The team looked to continue their streak at Wrigley, but that ended when the Cubs were swept by the Washington Nationals. They rebounded by sweeping the New York Mets on the road, but most recently lost two of three to the Brewers.

Did you follow all that? Sorry if that confused you but the easy way to say it is that the Cubs can’t seem to be consistent. Just as it looks like the team is turning a corner and living up to their talent, they get swept and take two steps back.

It’s starting to look a lot like last season, where the Cubs had all the talent they needed, but couldn’t seem to score more than one or two runs in most games in September. It ended in that nightmare two days I described earlier.

After the awful hitting down the stretch last season, Cubs executive Theo Epstein said that he would “Never want to be a part of this again” when referring to the inconsistent offense. He may not have a choice now.

In that same end-of-year press conference, Epstein hinted that big changes were coming. Nothing specific was mentioned, but there didn’t seem to be that many differences besides the front office imposing new rules on manager Joe Maddon.

There were little in the way of roster moves that helped the offense during last year’s offseason. The Cubs got a big offensive boost this year when the team traded for outfield Nicholas Castellanos at the deadline, but he can’t do it all by himself.

Maddon previously said that he thought wins and losses had no impact on his job status, but if this team misses the playoffs it’s hard to see the front office sitting down with Maddon to give him more money.

Major changes have to happen if this season ends as last year did. The Cubs currently hold the second Wild Card spot in the NL, but there are four teams all within 3.5 games of them. A playoff spot is far from guaranteed at this point.

The Cubs have 26 games left to figure things out, or this team could look very different next year.