Can Chicago Cubs fatten up against lesser opposition?
The time has come for the Cubs to fatten up.
A team that has flirted with mediocrity all season long now enters a stretch of 13 games against teams that occupy last place in their respective divisions.
Manager Joe Maddon won't count those bales of hay before they're secured.
“You've got to attempt to make hay while you can, absolutely,” he said before Monday's series opener against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.
“But I've done it for a while now, and you just can't look at a group and say, ‘They're not that good, and we're just going to beat up on them. We're just going to show up and throw our gloves out.' What a bad method that is.”
The Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and after the Reds tied it against a laboring Jose Quintana in the second, a 5-run fourth gave the Cubs a 7-2 lead. Highlighting the inning were back-to- back homers by Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.
The Cubs went on to win 15-5.
The Cubs entered the night 1 game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. With games upcoming against the Blue Jays, the Reds in Cincinnati and the Phillies in Philadelphia, this would be a perfect time for the Cubs to make their move.
“We haven't been able to pull away from .500 and get to a place where I think we're all more comfortable,” said general manager Jed Hoyer. “I think that as a result, the Cardinals had a hot streak and got back in the race.
“The Pirates had a similar hot streak before the all-star break and then right after the all-star break. The Brewers had a great first half. I think when you're hovering around .500, which we are, everyone's in the race.
“Everyone's one hot streak away from being right there. We just have to hope that we start being consistent. You want to rattle off a lot of series wins and really get away from .500 by a significant amount because until we do that there's obviously no way to pull away from the pack.”
The Cubs have been inconsistent all season. They've looked listless at times, and the stellar defense they played all of last season on the way to a World Series title hasn't always shown up this season.
For that, Hoyer would not blame Maddon.
“I think that collectively, top to bottom, obviously we haven't had the same kind of year as last year or even the year before,” the GM said.
“I think that assessment is on everybody. I wouldn't single anything out about Joe that he hasn't done, but in general as a group, starting with Theo and me, I think we haven't played as well.
“We haven't been as sharp, and that's something we have to find. But the good thing about baseball is that we still have 46 games left to find it.”
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