Chicago Cubs: Top five reasons to still watch this weekend’s series

Chicago Cubs: Maddon’s manners are worth watching

4.   Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon has been all over sports news from wit and witticisms to the five levels of being a professional. Maddon deserves the spotlight as the one manager in a line of I’ll give you, pretty darn good managers to watch over the Cubs, that brought the prize home to the North Side.

Maddon’s new theme song is, “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” as management has not told him if he’s out or in and if they did tell him something, I’m sure it’d be clear in Maddon’s body language against the Cardinals.

If the skipper starts hosting press conferences during the game with the broadcast hosts, that might also be very telling that he thinks his time is up. If he’s going to get the boot why not hit the media and gin up some hype? Maddon does it all the time but this time might be self-serving.

Will Maddon start yelling at players now that the lifeless bunch has all but given up? Will he ignore them and just do business as usual? Now is an interesting time to watch the Cubs manager and see how he handles the adversity, especially not knowing if his contract will be picked up for next season.

Chicago Cubs: How will Cubs players react?

3.   The third reason I’m watching the Cubs take on the Cardinals is to see how the players perform. Will players like outfielders Kyle Schwarber and Nicholas Castellanos still give their all and try to break some records to finish off this season?

Will they get angry at the lethargic play of the rest of the Cubs? For the most part, the players will likely control their own destinies going forward. If they suspect they might be traded, this may be their last chance to perform at a level good enough to raise their dollar value and get them a job.

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This is where it will be even more interesting to watch; will Maddon rest all the stars and give up? It’s being reported already that the Cubs intend to do that. Now that these games don’t count in the ‘every game counts’ theme this season any longer, fans are beginning to see that these final games are about money and not baseball?

I’m too old to believe it’ll be about baseball so I’ll be tuning in to see if the Chicago Cubs will play for their fans or what I expect, sell out. I give credit to the Pirates, they were out a long time ago and yet they gave their best to kick our butt.

Sure it makes sense; the Cubs have to protect their guys for next season, no sense in anyone getting hurt in this million dollar business, for nothing. I get it; but this is the Cardinals. This is the very same team that came into Wrigley and basically told the Cubs to get out of their dugout. They made the Cubs look foolish in the Friendly Confines!

Where is the Cubs pride? The Cubs players have three games against the Cardinals on the road to show us the power of karma or money. The third reason I’m watching the Cubs versus Cardinals is to see if Chicago players show up.

Chicago Cubs: And now a word from Cubs President

2.    The second best reason to watch the Cubs take on the Cardinals is that the Cubs President of baseball operations, Theo Epstein may be making some early moves with the team. Now that the season is essentially done and the Cubs are out of contention, Epstein is free to begin moving players around the board.

I believe he has more respect for Maddon than to let him go before or even during the series. If Epstein is planning on another season with Maddon than he may wait to offer him a contract until the postseason begins. However, the odds are against the aging coach getting another season with the Cubs. News around baseball is that Epstein is more likely to let Maddon go and it could just happen right in front of our eyes.

Epstein may be quiet about players during the upcoming series in the Cardinals home but chances are that with all the speculation about why the Cubs tanked at the end of the season, Epstein is going to be addressing the media quite regularly.

There will be some commentary from Epstein; whether it be talking points about what happened this season or Epstein’s true thoughts, he will most likely not pass up the chance to use his time to address fans’ concerns. The second best reason to watch the Cubs versus Cardinals, is to see what Epstein might say or do during the series.

Chicago Cubs: The number one reason to watch the Cubs versus the Cardinals

1.    If you are a true Chicago Cubs fan, than you will most likely be watching to the very end. Whether that means the end of Maddon or key Cubs players, a true fan continues to support the team because of loyalty. There are many folks out there that have been watching the Cubs their whole life and the recent spurt of good news in 2016 has been a wild ride or dream that old loyal fans knew would end eventually.

We’re the Cubs, we’re supposed to give everyone a hard time and make things hard on the Division winner but are not supposed to be in the postseason. These years have been special because that’s not our normal and if we ever are good enough again to make a run, it will be special again.

I predict that many of the bandwagon fans of the Cubs are going to drop off this season, especially if Epstein gets rid of Maddon. Maddon has been the symbol of breaking the curse and finding a way to win.

Once the Cubs began winning in 2015 and 2016, fans jumped onto the Cubs 108 year drought record for the chance at the ultimate party. They’ve been back since 2016, looking for that rush, but this year they may move their allegiances to the Milwaukee Brewers, Cardinals, Washington Nationals or even the New York Yankees because they want to follow a winner and if Maddon leaves, it’s almost like giving up or admitting this run is over.

It’s okay with me if these bandwagon fans jump ship before next season or decide to follow the 2019 World Series Championship team (for the party), because they were really never loyal Cubs fans anyway.

The number one reason to watch the Chicago Cubs take on the St. Louis Cardinals is that we’re loyal fans and stick with our team through the good and the bad. Will it be, ‘Everyone in’ or ‘Anyone here?’