Chicago Cubs News: It’s been an odd 2020 year in review

It was far from perfect, but the Chicago Cubs found a way to win the NL Central Division for the third time in five seasons.

In what has already been a strange year in 2020, the baseball world got a taste of the madness during a shortened 60-game regular season.

There would have been many reasons to make excuses. Yet, first-year manager David Ross never let his team get too high or low, and now the Cubs (34-26) head into October as division champions with the third overall seed in the National League.

Statistically, it wasn’t pleasant for the Cubs, and that’s putting it nicely. Outside of Jason Heyward (6 HR 22 RBI .265 BA .848 OPS 50 games) and Ian Happ (12 HR 28 RBI .258 BA .866 OPS 57 games), the team could not find consistency on offense.

The players usually relied upon to carry the team posted some of the worst numbers we have ever seen in their careers:

Kris Bryant: (34 games) 4 HR 11 RBI .206 BA .644 OPS

Anthony Rizzo: (58 games) 11 HR 24 RBI .222 BA .755 OPS

Javier Baez: (59 games) 8 HR 24 RBI .202 BA .598 OPS

Willson Contreras: (57 games) 7 HR 26 RBI .243 BA .763 OPS

Kyle Schwarber: (59 games) 11 HR 24 RBI .188 BA .701 OPS

Victor Caratini: (44 games) 1 HR 16 RBI .241 BA .661 OPS

Jason Kipnis: (44 games) 3 HR 16 RBI .237 BA .745 OPS

Nico Hoerner: (48 games) 0 HR 13 RBI .222 BA .571 OPS

David Bote (45 games) 7 HR 29 RBI .200 BA .711 OPS

Call it winning-ugly or whatever you want, but as they say, a win is a win, and the Cubs found a way to get it done.

The Cubs did manage to find consistency on the mound from their starting pitchers, and eventually, their bullpen.

In his third year with the team, Yu Darvish posted a Cy Young worthy season and stepped up whenever the Cubs needed a big-start: (8-3) 2.01 ERA 76 IP 93 SO 14 BB.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks also did his part and turned in another stellar season in a Cub uniform: (6-5) 2.88 ERA 81.1 IP 64 SO 8 BB.

A 2020-Cubs stat you probably won’t find on baseball-reference.com is perhaps the most important of this season: zero positive COVID-19 tests from an active player.

The Cubs were the only MLB team to manage this feat, and their discipline has paid off with another NL Central Division crown.

Sure this season might not have been as exciting, and our favorite players made us want to put our heads through a wall at times for their struggles, but do you know what that means in the playoffs? Absolutely nothing.

Baseball in October is a whole new season, and the superstars on this team can quickly put unforgettable performances behind them after a few playoffs wins.

It wasn’t the easiest road to the postseason, but at the end of the day, the Cubs are in, and anything can happen.

The Cubs jumped out of the gates and established themselves as contenders after getting off to their best start in 50 seasons.

15 Games: (12-3) 1st place NL Central

The first 15 games of the season for the Cubs were tremendous, but little did we know it would be arguably their best stretch of baseball all season.

Kyle Hendricks set the tone on opening night, tossing a three-hit shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers: 9 IP 3 H 0 ER 9 SO 0 BB.

The rest of the rotation followed The Professor, as Tyler Chatwood and Alec Mills both established themselves as important pieces to the back-end of the rotation. The duo each won their first two starts of the season in the absence of Jose Quintana, who was placed on the 10-day IL.

Aside from Kris Bryant batting in the leadoff spot, the offense was firing on all cylinders and was among MLB’s best in team OPS.

If there was a chink in the Cubs armor, it was their bullpen.

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A big topic of discussion in the offseason for the lack of additions, the ‘pen struggled to find themselves in the early part of the season and held the worst ERA among all bullpens in MLB.

The struggles of Craig Kimbrel from last season carried over into his early 2020 campaign. After a few rough outings against the Reds and Pirates (1 1/3 IP 4 ER 2 H 4 BB 0 SO), fans were angry and even demanded the trade or release of Kimbrel.

Newly acquired veteran Jeremy Jeffress and Rowan Wick quickly took over the late-innings, and other members of the bullpen were left to figure out their roles as the season progressed.

At this point, I was getting set to make my debut as a contributor for Cubbies Crib, and I remember thinking the Cubs would cruise through a 60-game season with no problems.

Aside from the bullpen that I figured would work itself out or Theo would get help, I believed no team could slow down the Cubs.

Boy, was I wrong.

The Cubs were in a good spot to begin the second half of the season, but it felt like they should have been better.

45 Games (26-19) 1st Place NL Central 

The .500 baseball from the past few weeks for the Cubs continued into the second half of the season. Thankfully, the same could be said about the other teams in the NL Central Division who struggled to get on a roll of their own.

Just when it seemed like the Cubs were ready to turn a corner, they took a step backward.

One span of games that was incredibly disappointing came against the Cardinals. Once again, the series played out in five games over the first weekend of September, and the Cubs had a chance to put serious distance between their rival.

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To no surprise, Yu Darvish made another case as the best pitcher in baseball in a 4-2 Cubs’ win to open the series, dropping his ERA to a season-low 1.44 following this start: 7 IP 1 H 1 ER 0 BB 11 SO.

The Cubs failed to capitalize, dropping the next three games, including a rough outing from Jon Lester in a 7-3 loss on Sunday Night Baseball.

The veteran lefty gave up five earned runs for the second straight start, and up to this point, it was the fourth start of the season he allowed at least five runs or more.

A solid outing from Kyle Hendricks salvaged the series finale with a 5-1 win, and the Cubs stayed ahead of St. Louis by three games in the division.

It would have been easy to throw in the towel after this rough stretch, but the Cubs kept their cool and took two of three games in their final series against the Reds.

This span of games had many wondering whether or not the Cubs should be considered a legitimate World Series contender and who they should go after at the trade deadline.

To no surprise, there were no big moves made. Instead, the team brought in veteran designated hitter Jose Martinez, outfielder Cameron Maybin, and left-handed relievers Andrew Chafin and Josh Osich.

The team also acquired speedster, Billy Hamilton, from waivers a few days later.

Of the acquisitions, only Maybin, Hamilton, and Chafin remain on the active roster. They aren’t blockbuster moves, but I believe they are solid role players that can make an impact in the postseason.

Up to this point, the Cubs remained in first place, but the lack of consistency and high-expectations from what we are accustomed to made it feel like this team was a lot worse.

The reality was they were “playing bad,” so what kind of team would this be if they found their groove in the final 15 games?

The last two weeks of games had plenty of positives the Cubs can take into October.

60 Games (34-26) 1st Place NL Central

The first of the final 15 games for the Cubs came in the form of a 1-0 loss to the Brewers. In a wasted redemption start from Jon Lester, the Cubs managed just two hits before a walk-off hit by nemesis Ryan Braun.

The following day wasn’t much better, as Milwaukee was up 2-0 in the top of the ninth inning and prepared to blank the Cubs for the second straight game.

With Josh Hader on the mound for the Brewers (12 2/3 IP 2 H 3 ER 20 SO through September 11) and a dreadful Cubs’ offense, things weren’t looking good.

This is where I believe the Cubs turned their season around.

After retiring the first batter, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo notched back-to-back singles to set the stage for Jason Heyward.

Down to his final strike, Heyward launched a go-ahead three-run homer off Hader to bring the Cubs back to life.

The newly acquired Ildemaro Vargas took Hader deep in the next at-bat to put the Cubs ahead 4-2.

Craig Kimbrel, who put together a stretch of strong performances, came in and closed the door on a comeback victory for the ages.

As if things couldn’t get any better, the following day, the offense scored 12 runs, and oh yea–Alec Mills threw a no-hitter.

Following the Heyward-heroics, the Cubs won five games in a row and were a season-high 11 games above .500.

Sadly the team came back to earth and lost five of six games where the offense scored more than two runs just once and was shut out twice in that span.

This led to the three-game season finale against the White Sox on the Southside of Chicago. The offense once again came back to life, scoring a total of 25 runs as the Cubs took two of three games in the series as they clinched the NL Central.

The timing could not be more perfect for the Cubs heading into the postseason, as Kris Bryant also returned after missing more time due to injury.

The former MVP looked the best he has all season, blasting two home runs and driving in six, including a grand slam in the final two games.

Now the Cubs will head into October on a bit of a high note. There’s no time to wait around and hope for the offense to find itself; they’ll need to get off to a good start and fast, or they’ll get sent home packing.

For all the struggles that have seemed to happen for the Cubs this season, there are plenty of positives they can hang their hats on.

This is an experienced group with a championship pedigree, and they handled a shortened, pandemic filled season by winning their division when many counted them out.

I like the Cubs’ odds in the playoffs.