Chicago Cubs: Overreactions already running wild

Chicago Cubs fans are already jumping to conclusions.

It may only be a couple of exhibition games, but that has not stopped many Chicago Cubs fans from overreacting and jumping to some conclusions. Admittedly, it probably did not help that these two games came against the cross-town rivals, the Chicago White Sox.

Further, the fact that in Monday night’s affair, former Cubs prospect Eloy Jimenez deposited a Yu Darvish pitch over the center-field fence for a first-inning grand slam. It was a rough first inning for Darvish who yielded five runs (all in the first inning) over four innings pitched on his way to a 5-3 loss. Darvish also gave up three walks and recorded two strikeouts.

This came after another Cubs’ loss to the White Sox on Sunday night, in which the South Siders prevailed 7-3 against Kyle Hendricks.

Fast forward to Tuesday on social media, and there are some Cubs fans who are ready to sound the alarm. Many are already tweeting about the season being over or writing off the Cubs as having any chance to win the World Series in 2020.

Maybe it’s the global pandemic, or perhaps it’s just the fact that fans are going a little stir-crazy over not having live sports for months, and needing something to argue about. Whatever the reason, the hyperbole is probably a bit overboard.

Keep in mind that major league baseball players are creatures of habit and routine. This year, that routine has been thrown into the spin-cycle and spit out as something completely foreign to them. After a long hiatus from playing competitive baseball, the team is trying to ratchet things back up.

This is to say nothing of the fact that in the midst of all of this, they are trying to deal with the mental aspect of playing baseball again. They are trying to cope with the uncertainty around the future, likely worried about coming down with the virus themselves.

The Cubs may not win the 2020 World Series, but fans should give them a little more grace and not jump to that conclusion after 48 hours of subpar baseball. Let the players get reacclimated and back into their routines before rushing to judgment. In three weeks, you want to write them off, well, I won’t stand in your way.