2 former Cubs closers are crashing and burning in the postseason

Given the Cubs' spectacular September collapse, most of what we as fans are watching now are the familiar faces spotting the rosters of the teams left in the MLB playoffs: Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos have provided plenty of fireworks for the Phillies, but we're here to talk about a pair of former Cubs closers in Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman.

We'll start with Chapman, who started the season with the Kansas City Royals before joining the Rangers in one of the first pre-deadline trades of the summer. He experienced his share of bumps since coming to the Lone Star State, but manager Bruce Bochy continues to lean heavily upon the left-hander in October.

Without Aroldis Chapman, there likely is no Cubs World Series title

After a trio of scoreless appearances between the Wild Card round and the ALDS, Chapman has run into a familiar foe in the Championship Series in the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros. of course, you'll recall his run-ins with them when he was a member of the Yankees - most notably, when Jose Altuve took him deep to send the Astros to the World Series in 2019.

In the ALDS, control issues were an issue for Chapman - and here in the ALCS, Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez took his countryman deep late in Game 2, putting the veteran under the spotlight once again.

All told, that's been the only damage done against Chapman this postseason, but Cubs fans are all too familiar with what it's like to watch him give up big home runs in October. In his defense, then-manager Joe Maddon ran the big left-hander into the ground in 2016, knowing there was no chance Chapman would come back to Chicago in free agency.

But Rajai Davis' game-tying home run in Game 7 is still enough to send shivers down your spine.

Craig Kimbrel signing was ill-fated for the Cubs from the start

And if you needed another Cubs connection to watch as the NLCS heads to Game 6 on Monday night, look no further than Craig Kimbrel. Chicago signed Kimbrel once draft pick compensation fell off him mid-2019 season and he never really got his feet under him on the North Side.

He made 41 appearances between the back half of the 2019 campaign and the shortened 2020 season and, despite averaging 14.5 K/9, he limped to a 6.29 FIP and 6.00 ERA thanks to erratic control of his pitches. Kimbrel returned to form in 2021, allowing the Cubs to trade him to the White Sox in exchange for Codi Heuer and Nick Madrigal.

But back to Philadelphia. Kimbrel was an All-Star this year for the Phillies, and was a big piece of Rob Thompson's bullpen mix heading into October. Unfortunately, the wheels came off in the NLCS - with Kimbrel coughed up the walk-off knock to Ketel Marte in Game 3 and then imploding in the eighth in Game 4 - leading to a removal from high-leverage spots moving forward.

Perhaps both guys will get a chance to redeem themselves before it's all said and done. But, with Kimbrel in particular, his struggles could prove to be his legacy with the Phillies, regardless of what he'd done up to this point with the club.