Chicago Cubs fans need to appreciate the Joe Maddon era while it lasts

Chicago Cubs: No ramping up period for Maddon’s Cubs

This group never really experienced a full rebuild – at least not under Maddon’s guidance. The former Tampa Bay skipper came in and took this team from last place all the way to the NLCS in his first season.

Chicago immediately went from bottom-feeder to eyes on the prize. This is not normal and I believe has had a negative impact on fans, as a whole. This new group never had a season where they came just short of success. In year one, this team had the third-best record in baseball, knocked out the two teams with better regular season records, and finished as one of the final four teams left at the end. The expectations for domination were set. Take the Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals for example, two of the other recent ‘rebuilds’ in baseball that have resulted in championships.

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Kansas City went 72-90 in 2013, followed by an 86-76 mark the next season. Fans were optimistic about the rebuild but they still hadn’t experienced great success. In 2014, the Royals made it all the way to the World Series but lost in Game 7. In 2015, they made it all the way back and won it all, thus completing a successful rebuild in bringing  a championship home. Since then, the Royals haven’t finished a season over .500.

Houston looms as another example. In 2014, they went 70-92. The next year showed promise, as they finished 86-76 and lost in the ALDS. As the Cubs rolled to their first Fall Classic since 1945, the ‘Stros went 84-78, altogether missing the postseason. But, as we know now, it all came together last year, when they took down the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games to capture the first World Series championship in franchise history.

Rebuilds take time and often there is halted development and patience needed as teams develop. Houston and Kansas City both won championships, but fans had to be patient with their teams before they got to bask in the glory. The Cubs and their fans haven’t needed patience with Joe Maddon. Fans can get flustered when the Cubs hit slumps at certain points in the season, but overall, they don’t last for long.

Chicago Cubs: Succeeding with an insanely young group

It’s because of all the immediate success that we don’t realize how young this Chicago Cubs team is – every two years removed from a World Series title. Theo Epstein has done a great job of surrounding these young stars with veteran talent and maybe that is another reason why we don’t notice the youth in Chicago as much as we probably should.

Of all the young stars on this team, Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber are two examples of youth that fans need to respect. These players are still so young and early on in their MLB careers that they’re going to do great things, but, at this age, their age and relative inexperience are bound to stand out at times.

Schwarber burst onto the scene in unforgettable fashion. We watched him hit monster bombs in the 2015 postseason, then write one of the most feel-good stories in all of baseball when he unexpectedly returned from injury to hit over .400 and help the Cubs win the World Series in 2016.

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He then spent his first full season in the Majors playing a position he’s never played before in his career. Sure, he struggled out in left and the transition affected him at the plate as well. Nonetheless, he still hit 30 home runs, and in year two, he has a fielding percentage of 99.4 percent and a 2.10 WAR. He’s still developing as a young talent with loads of potential, and frustrated fans need to be patient and trust his work ethic and continued improvement.

Ian Happ is another prime example. Happ is currently tied for ninth in all of baseball with 163 strikeouts. He’s still learning plate discipline in his second season in the bigs, but it’s worth noting he has an OPS of .755, above the league average of .728. He’s got the potential to be great, and when we see the work he does in the field, we’ve got to give him time to develop as a young star.

Happ and Schwarber are just a few examples of the youth in Chicago, but help illustrate this team as a whole. A group that has done so much already but with still so much room to grow and improve.

Chicago Cubs: Maddon gets what’s best for the game

The Cubs with Joe Maddon are such a fun team to watch and root for. The themed road trips, funky sayings that have turned into shirts and endless creativity Maddon shows in his management are now commonplace to us all.

The group has fun together, and the fans want to invest themselves as a result. The skipper’s come in and ignored the past and turned this team into what it should be: a ball club players are proud to play on and a team that fans are proud to root for.

I believe that one of the most important things for a team to be successful is that they have fun doing what they’re doing. 162 games are taxing, and when you’re playing baseball for a living, pressure and stress can mount. But when you have fun with the guys you play with and for, those pressures seem smaller. Joe Maddon’s Cubs have had so much success because they know how to have fun – even under pressure.

Theo Epstein has been masterful with his acquisitions over the years. Even if they don’t pan out, he and Joe have done an excellent job of fixing the mistakes to keep this team in championship form. Expectations for this team are World Series, but a third-straight division title and fourth-straight trip to the postseason would be something to be very proud of, regardless of how it all pans out in October.