Chicago Cubs: Five reasons the Cubs never became a dynasty

Chicago Cubs: “You go, we go” never went when he left

The Cubs never found a leadoff hitter to replace Dexter Fowler.

The Cubs never found a leadoff hitter to replace Dexter Fowler.

The Cubs never found a leadoff hitter to replace Dexter Fowler.

Heck, the Cubs still haven’t found a leadoff man to replace him. While I’m not suggesting they made a mistake in letting Fowler walk and get handsomely paid by someone else for less than elite performance, they never addressed a hole that has been sinking the ship ever since.

When you have a Ferrari but can’t start the engine, what good is the car? When you have a super fast computer but no internet connection, what good is the computer? When you have a juggernaut of an offense and you can’t get it started, there’s a big problem. This is exactly the problem the Cubs have had the past four seasons.

Sure, they’ve tried to plug and play with Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, Ian Happ, and others. Problem is, they wrecked Schwarber for the better part of a season and then wrecked Heyward for a half season. Zobrist retired, and Happ still hasn’t played a full 162 game slate at the big league level.

When you’re an elite organization, you can’t allow a hole as gaping as the Cubs leadoff spot stay unplugged for four years. Yet, that’s exactly what has happened. And that hole has, in turn, temporized and seized the offense right off the throne in the National League.

While the Cubs could still find success in 2021 and beyond with many of the current players at the big league level and in the minors, the fact that Maddon, Epstein, and now Schwarber are gone pretty much signals the end to this window for the North Siders.