Chicago Cubs: Game of Thrones and the Cubs’ Long Winter (Part 3)

Chicago Cubs: Do I deserve a happy ending in Chicago?

Kyle Schwarber arrived in Chicago and immediately became the next big thing and a golden child of sorts when he slugged his way right into Cubs’ fans hearts. He has often been seen as the untouchable golden goose in possible trade talks at the deadline and during the offseason.

However, a lot of that was in question once he tore his ACL and LCL in Arizona during the first series of the 2016 season.  He redeemed himself after a lost cause of a season by coming back Willis Reed-style in the 2016 World Series, going 7-for-17 against the Indians as the DH in the four games in Cleveland, including a rally-starting rip that eventually led to the winning run in Game 7.

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Unfortunately, since that World Series win, Schwarber has been on quite a peregrination of his own.  That journey, fraught with ups and downs, boos from the fans, calls for trades, weight-loss, defensive gains, a minor league demotion, back issues, and a terrible RISP value in 2018, is the kind of journey all heroes must take if they are to endure and come out on top in the end. And, just like Kyle Schwarber’s dynamic and ever-changing four years in Chicago, Jaime Lannister has had a hero’s journey of his own that has seen his character go through a dynamic change as well.

Now, no one is saying Kyle Schwarber has any incestual tendencies or that he wants to throw children out of windows.

In fact, he’d be more apt to help save kids from towers with his charitable work with and family ties to local fire and police departments. However, in terms of the epic journey both characters have taken to their current place and time, it’s pretty similar.  Lannister dispatched the Mad King, but some see him as a traitor for it.  Kyle Schwarber was the hero of the 2016 World Series, and some fans immediately wanted to trade him.  No one thinks he is much of a threat without his right hand. Kyle Schwarber also had to overcome a gruesome injury of his own in 2017 and has had his struggles since.

Lannister has undergone a character shift and change since his early days, going from reviled and incestuous pretty boy to an almost heroic and noble knight.  Schwarber hasn’t changed as a person since early in his career; however, his body has certainly undergone a huge change thanks to his slimming down and coming into last spring in the proverbial “best shape of his life.”  Except, in that case, it was actually true, as Schwarber looked more like Javy Baez than Babe Ruth.

No one knows how the story will end for Kyle Schwarber in Chicago, just as no one quite knows how things will turn out for the once-reviled golden boy of Westeros. One thing we do know – we, as fans, have loved their story arcs and hope for a heroic ending for both.