Chicago Cubs: What constitutes a successful season in 2018?

Chicago Cubs fans have grown to a certain level of success in recent years. With that, comes a feel of expectations – and sometimes, they’re a bit lofty.

With the additions of Yu Darvish, Brandon Morrow and Tyler Chatwood in the offseason, the Chicago Cubs announced to their fanbase and Major League Baseball that they were moving on from the success of the past few years and trying to achieve even greater heights going forward.

In other words, while the Cubs had their proverbial “window” open, they were going to go for it and attempt to keep that window open even longer by adding quality pieces to an already deep team.

Unfortunately, we all know about the best laid plans of mice and men. They often go awry. And awry. And awry again.

Chicago Cubs: Injuries, issues and everything else

None of the three aforementioned high-priced free agents the Cubs signed this past offseason have thrown a meaningful pitch in over a month. Tyler Chatwood is the only one who has even thrown a pitch in a game this month. And it wasn’t meaningful.

Addison Russell has been either mediocre, hurt, or on administrative leave all season. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo have both spent time on the DL this season, and KB has only appeared in 98 games this season.

Pedro Strop (our de facto closer with Morrow injured), also went down when told to bat during a game in which he probably should have been lifted for a pinch hitter. Willson Contreras hasn’t been anywhere near the guy we saw in the second half last season.

I could really go on and on, but we all get it. Injuries and other less desirable things happen over the course of a 162-game baseball season. It’s baseball. Even the best teams on paper and throughout the regular season suffer slumps, lose players to injuries, and ultimately fail. So, what does this mean for how we define success for the Cubs in 2018?

Chicago Cubs: Some negatives, even more positives for this team

We don’t have a closer or even a backup closer right now.  Our bullpen is running on empty. The offense is hit-or-miss most nights. However, what we do have is a rotation that has been lights-out in since the addition of Cole Hamels, and when you have starting pitching and defense, you can win some games in the playoffs if you just hit a little bit.

So, while the season has already been a success from a rational standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with expecting another trip to the NLCS and hoping Pedro Strop comes back healthy, the rotation is lights out, and the shuffling of swingman Mike Montgomery back to the pen rejuvenates a gassed bullpen.

There’s nothing wrong with expecting greatness, hoping for success, and laying a new set of plans when your old ones go awry.

Just remember, though: at the end of the day, the Cubs’ season has been a success and this team has won over 400 games the past four seasons. Don’t take it for granted and enjoy the fact we are even talking about baseball in October.