Chicago Cubs: What constitutes a successful season in 2018?

Chicago Cubs: A success no matter how you measure it

The Cubs are already a success. Period. End of story. They’ve overcome a myriad of issues, finding themselves back in the postseason for the fourth consecutive season.  And, as any baseball fan will tell you, you just want to get a ticket for the dance.  That ticket was punched the other day against the Pirates, but it’s not quite the ticket that most of us want yet.

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Joe Maddon even lamented the fact that his players didn’t even celebrate when they clinched a “berth” in the postseason.  Hopefully, that’s because the players have their eyes set on bigger and better things, namely a third-straight division title.

Maddon, quite frankly, has probably done his best job managing the Cubs this season; the team has 94 wins (with two games remaining) and it seems like we have 39 if you go on Twitter.

The addition of some logic and rational thought coupled with a little reflection tells Cubs fans the season has already been a success. That being said, we have become greedy and now take a certain level of success for granted.  That minimum success threshold has been met and crossed by locking in another trip to the postseason.  However, would anyone really deem the season a success if the Cubs end up playing in the Wild Card and heading home in a loss?

The answer is an emphatic no. Fans, players, coaches, the front office and owners alike expect a bit more. At the beginning of the season, all those people were probably saying or thinking “World Series or bust.”  At this point, with the plan gone awry, a successful season would probably see the Cubs getting to and winning the NLDS.  Once in the NLCS (which would be the fourth-straight for the Cubs, for the record), anything could happen; and while it would be an acrimonious end to the season, most everyone would probably chalk up the “early exit” to injuries and off-field issues.