Chicago Cubs: What led to Carl Edwards’ late-season implosion?

Chicago Cubs: Edwards goes from white-hot to icy cold on a dime

Obviously, we all remember the September turned in by Edwards. We’ll get to that a bit later on in this discussion. But what many fans forget are the first two months of the campaign – which couldn’t form a more stark contrast when put side-by-side.

In March/April, the right-hander racked up 13 2/3 innings of 0.66 ERA ball, limiting opponents to a minuscule .146 clip. Perhaps more importantly, he turned in a 23:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In short, he was feeling himself early in the year. Then, things went sideways. As the calendar flipped to May, Edwards went from the toast of the relief corps to a completely unreliable option.

That month, he put up an unsightly 5.56 earned run average across 11 1/3 innings – and opponents hit .244 – an increase of nearly 100 full points over the month prior. He still turned in a semi-respectable 17:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but that clearly trended in the wrong direction, as well.

Now, as the summer wore on, Edwards seemed to level off. He didn’t pitch in June, but rebounded in July and August, setting himself up well for the home stretch of the campaign. Of course, Morrow didn’t take the mound the entire second half, so, at least in the interim, the lanky righty stepped up at the perfect time.

Until he didn’t.