Cubs News: Karl Ravech believes the Cubs can make a postseason run

Karl Ravech and I chatted Saturday morning about all things Chicago Cubs.

There’s no overstating just how critical the next three days are for David Ross and the Chicago Cubs. National League Cy Young front-runner Yu Darvish carried the team to a huge series-opening win on Friday night. Now, Chicago faces the prospects of four more games against the rival Cardinals – with a chance to deliver a crushing blow to St. Louis’ postseason prospects.

I spoke to Ross’ former broadcast partner at ESPN, Karl Ravech, ahead of Saturday’s twin bill to pick his brain and gauge how he felt about the team to this point. Darvish’s performance on Friday night was clearly still fresh in his mind.

“To be a team that depends on three true outcomes, without having the ability to create runs, is a problem,” he said of the Cubs’ October odds. “But you also have Yu Darvish going in Game 1. If Darvish were a free agent at the end of this, he’d have the same conversation around him, maybe to a slightly lesser degree, as Gerrit Cole had.”

Of course, Cole ascended to the top of the pitching landscape after his back-to-back All-Star seasons in Houston. The right-hander rode his 22-win 2019 campaign and league-leading 2.50 ERA and 326 strikeouts to a massive nine-year, $324 million contract with the New York Yankees this offseason. But what Ravech is getting at is this: this season, when Darvish gets the ball, it’s almost a foregone conclusion the Cubs are going to win the game.

That’s a nice feeling to have, especially given the question marks surrounding many of their other starting pitchers, namely Jon Lester and Alec Mills. Meanwhile, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood remain on the injured list, leaving big voids in the rotation.

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Now, given COVID-19’s devastating financial impact on the sport and on owners, those discussions are undoubtedly more challenging – and could force teams to really take a long look at who they decide to talk extensions with.

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“While players and fans will often fall back on, ‘The owner has X amount of dollars and why isn’t he investing it in the team,’ I think there’s an argument to be made that given the financial challenges that COVID has presented, you’re going to find a depressed market for baseball players. The money that was there back in January and February just isn’t there.”

Cubs fans have lashed out at the Ricketts family over the last couple of years for what’s looked and felt like a hard salary cap given to Epstein and the front office. Of course, moves like Nicholas Castellanos at last year’s trade deadline shun that perception – but when you see a big market organization like Chicago shopping the bargain bin to address long-standing needs, especially on the pitching side of things, as we did this winter, it’s hard to not fall victim to that same line of thinking.

I’ll have more from this interview over Labor Day weekend. Ravech and I also talked about Jason Heyward’s breakout season, David Ross versus Joe Maddon and how front offices will ultimately make those tough decisions with key players in a post-COVID world.