Chicago Cubs: 1984 – A retrospective of a classic year

After what seemed like decades of misfortune and woe, everything changed for the Chicago Cubs in 1984, when they found success in an unlikely place.

The history of the Chicago Cubs certainly has some bright spots, many of them coming in the past few years. The team’s history is long and arduous, forcing us to break down parts of years or even decades to understand what went right or wrong.

For the Chicago Cubs, the 1984 season was a sort of reprieve from the previous 12 seasons of below-average baseball. The team was coming off a string of seasons finishing right at or below .500. The season before, they finished a balmy 73-89. So what exactly was the catalyst for all of a sudden posting a 91-win season and an eventual NLCS bid?

The club seemed destined to turn their luck around when then-GM Dallas Green, began making a flurry of moves in the offseason. Trades swirled around, bringing fresh faces to the Windy City. Everything was suddenly clicking on all cylinders and the Cubs, for one spectacular year, were back.

Chicago Cubs: Whirlwind of transactions

The offseason began when the team shipped off a player-to-be-named and a 23-year-old minor league pitcher named Stan Kyles to the Oakland Athletics for a reliever by the name of Tim Stoddard. For the Cubs, Stoddard provided 92 innings, pitching to a 3.82 ERA. That year, he posted a career-high strikeout rate and a decreased HR/9. Stoddard also appeared in the second-most amount of games, behind only closer Lee Smith.

Green began wheeling and dealing guys left and right in an attempt to bring as much value to the club as possible. The number of transactions Green was making brings into thought the modern day GM, and most importantly Seattle Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto, who is infamous for continually making trades. It became a reality for the Cubs in a bid to contend.

Midway through the first part of the season, the Cubs made a  couple of season-defining trades. To bolster their starting rotation, they shipped off the infamous Bill Buckner to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Mike Brumley and Dennis Eckersley. The Cubs also sent Bill Campbell, Mike Diaz to the Philadelphia Phillies in a deal where they acquired Gary Matthews.

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Brumley never amounted to anything for the Cubs. However, Eckersley would help to anchor an uup-and-down starting rotation. That year for the Cubs, he started 24 games, finished 10-8 with a very respectable 3.03 ERA. He threw two complete games in that span, pitching to a 3.40 FIP and a 3.2 fWAR.

Throughout the season, the Cubs continued to wheel and deal. In a move that would have repercussions for a long time, they traded then 23-year-old rookie Joe Carter in a seven-player swap.

Among the return, Rick Sutcliffe became the most excellent piece of the bunch. Carter went on to win the American League MVP a couple of short years later. For Sutcliffe that year, he drove the rotation with his Cy Young-winning season, finishing 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA, and seven complete games.

Matthews, meanwhile, was a wrecking ball for the Cubs in 1984. He played in 147 games, slashing .291/.410/.428 with 14 HR and 82 RBI. The slugging outfielder produced a .381 wOBA, 135 wRC+, and a 2.8 fWAR. That year, he finished fifth in the National League MVP voting.

Chicago Cubs: Turning it all around

The year before, in 1983, the Cubs finished a paltry 73-89. It was one of many lackluster seasons where the team could not win. By the finish of the 1984 regular season, the club had recorded a 96-win season and a trip to the League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres.

At the time, the Division Series did not exist for the two leagues, so the postseason consisted of only two rounds. The series was also still a best-of-five. The Division Series would not exist until 1995.

In Game 1 of the series, the Cubs dominated in all facets of the game. They battered Padres starter Eric Show for five runs before dumping seven more on Greg Harris, winning the game 13-0. Sutcliffe pitched seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts and five walks.

In Game 2, the Cubs found themselves one win from a World Series appearance, taking it 4-2. Steve Trout pitched phenomenally, throwing 8 1/3 innings while allowing just two earned en route to the victory. It would, however, be the final bright moments on the Cubs’ season.

Dennis Eckersley got the ball with a chance to clinch the series in Game 3. After the Cubs struck early on an RBI hit from Ron Cey, the middle innings ran foul for Eckersley quickly, as he finished with 5 1/3 innings pitched and five earned runs. The fall began.

The Cubs lost the series after a furious three-straight wins from the Padres, who lost handily to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Steve Garvey found himself named NLCS MVP, after an impressive three-game performance.

The 1984 season would stand out amongst the general fray of the average performance from the team throughout most of the 1970s and 80s. Following the heroic run to the Championship Series, the team faded back into mediocrity the immediate next season, finishing 77-84.

In fact, throughout the next handful of years, they averaged only 75 wins per season. It would not be until the 1989 season where the team would even sniff the playoffs. Nevertheless, for a moment and a season, Cubs fans could relish in a fantastic year, enjoying the excitement the team had brought together.