In the preseason, we saw plenty of Chicago Cubs season win projections in the 77-79 range. At the time, those seemed very legit. Then the season started, and the Cubs offense was very late to joining the rest of us here in the 2021 baseball season.
At that point, the Cubs were looking much more like a 70 win or thereabouts kind of team. Then they started winning a few here and there, then they claimed a couple series wins, and the season was unfolding in a manner akin to the plot of the timeless classic sports movie “Major League.”
I’m a cynical bastard, no doubt about it, so for me I was still feeling like the fictional Cleveland Stadium groundskeepers who tell us “they’re still shitty” after the first hot streak. That’s how I felt about the team on Cinco de Mayo, when they had just swept the reigning World Series champion L.A. Dodgers to pull themselves up to 15-16.
Then they won a road series at the NL Central favorite, the St. Louis Cardinals, and all of a sudden they’re sitting in first place on Memorial Day weekend. Now I’m feeling like the meathead blue collar guy in “Major League,” who says “hey, dese guys ain’t too fucking bad!”
If they keep it up you could always start using this one pic.twitter.com/67VRgTOBBB
— drunkharrycaray (@drunkharrycarey) June 7, 2021
Given the general mediocrity of the division, one can expect the Cubs till be in the race until the last day. The same goes true for the Cardinals, and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cincinnati Reds could play spoiler, but I’m not totally sold on the idea of them as a true contender for the division crown.
As for the Pirates, well, they’re still rebuilding. But most likely, no one is running away with this division, so the Cubs could end up having a much better 2021 than many, if not most, had anticipated. The “Cubs are back” narrative isn’t really correct. The “Cubs aren’t back because they never went away” framework is more like it, but again that theory is limited too.
If they win tomorrow night, they’ll be 34-26, or the same mark where they finished last year’s covid shortened season. That’s actually quite an overachievement, when you consider this team doesn’t have Jon Lester, or much more importantly, Yu Darvish anymore. A lot has to be said for how this pitching staff is somehow getting it done. There’s no telling where this club could be if they really had a legit #2 starter!
And Manager David Ross is a bit of an unsung hero as well. What he’s been able to accomplish, with this roster, is definitely remarkable.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.