Chicago Cubs: This year was forgettable – but will we move on from 2019?

Chicago Cubs: An eventful summer on the North Side

In May was when Cub’s super-utility man Ben Zobrist left the team for personal reasons – something that you don’t see every day in Major League Baseball. This hurt the Cubs because as we all know, Zobrist was one of the few guys seemingly capable of putting together solid at-bats out of the leadoff spot.

In June the Cubs went out and signed the premier bullpen arm in the free agent Craig Kimbrel. No one – and I mean no one had much of an issue with this given the team’s high-leverage bullpen struggles. This was another instance that doesn’t happen often in MLB, a top-tier free agent signing in June.

As we all know, in his first year with Chicago, Yu Darvish did not live up to the huge contract that he received. The Darvish that we all saw in the second half of 2019, however, was the guy we thought we got. Darvish was terrific  in the second half. He was by far the Cubs’ best starter post-All-Star Break.

Just minutes before the trade deadline hit, Chicago made one of the best in-season accusations in recent memory in Nicholas Castellanos. Who knows where the Cubs would have been without him in the second half of the season. He was outstanding in every regard. Castellanos is set to be a free agent this winter and I know I can speak for Cubs fans when I say I really hope the Cubs get him.

All the crazy stuff that happened during the year was leading up to September – another September to forget for Cubs faithful.