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Chicago Cubs: Bullpen, baserunning and errors catalyzed team’s collapse

By Michael Consolo

(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
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Words cannot describe the week the Chicago Cubs had, but the bullpen, poor baserunning and errors were the three main causes of this team’s epic collapse

One of the most painful weeks the Chicago Cubs have ever finally came to an end with Monday’s off-day. It could not have been any worse and I am still sick to my stomach thinking about.

It included five straight losses by one run, and now the Cubs season is all but doomed. A collapse for the second season in a row, and this one happens to be much, much worse than what we witnessed late last summer.

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It would be nice to say it’s been one thing that has killed this team, but it hurts to say that is not the case. The Cubs were killed by no one else but themselves. Bad baserunning, bullpen inconsistencies and horrific fielding did this team in.

Let’s start with errors, something the St Louis Cardinals know a little bit about from a season ago. The Cubs have 108 errors this year, 27th in all of baseball.

It doesn’t matter how talented the roster is: if you can’t play clean baseball, you’re not going to win games. The Cardinals are a perfect example.

In 2018, St. Louis led all of baseball with 133 errors and missed the playoffs. In 2019, they have the fewest errors in the league with 63 and are on the verge of winning the National League Central. They may not have the most talented roster in the division, but they have found a way to limit mistakes and it’s paying huge dividends.

Along with the sloppy play, the Cubs bullpen has been another huge reason for their demise in 2019. Tied for fifth in all of baseball with 28 blown saves, the pen just hasn’t gotten the job done late, and is another reason for their 19-27 record in one-run-games. This one goes back to Theo Epstein and what happened in the offseason. Not one of the winter bullpen additions are still with the team. The move to add Craig Kimbrel mid-season was a great opportunity and one that I don’t regret, but the lack of spring training really caught up to him and really hurt the Cubs.

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The downfall of Pedro Strop and wildly inconsistent Steve Cishek was also not part of the plan. The list of issues with the bullpen goes on and on, and to say Rowan Wick is the only one I trust out of the bunch is truly disheartening to say. A strong bullpen would have more than likely given this team a division title, but it was the opposite of strong.

The final proverbial nail in the coffin for Joe Maddon’s ball club? The baserunning. The Cubs have been put out on base 62 times this year, the most in all of baseball. We’ve seen too much sloppy baserunning and the numbers show.

Sure, that’s probably a number that doesn’t seem too terribly important, but when you’re getting on base and promptly throwing away that opportunity, you’re asking to lose.

Writing this has been painful, seeing that this team has clearly beaten themselves. Clean up the errors and be better on the base paths  and the bullpen doesn’t get put in such air-tight situations. It’s been a combination of mishaps, and it hurts to watch a team shoot itself in the foot so many different times and ways.

The team culture is there, a group that has unprecedented heart and chemistry. A team that wants to win more than anything but has ultimately shown too many flaws for any postseason opportunity.

Next. It's time for the Cubs to move on from this veteran lefty. dark

Sure, 2019 may be a gigantic failure, but it’s important to see that the Cubs aren’t necessarily getting passed up, they are just beating themselves. This off-season is going to be huge, and if they can clean up the mess, there is still enough talent on this roster to be one of the best in baseball.

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