Imrem: Whatever postseason holds, Chicago Cubs' season has been memorable

The Chicago Cubs beat the Indians on Monday afternoon in Wrigley Field.

Ho-hum.

A Cubs' victory isn't surprising now that they have won 21 of their past 26 games.

Most of the victories have come against shabby competition like the Brewers, Braves, Rockies, White Sox and Monday the Indians.

But who's going to quibble about the Cubs beating teams they're supposed to beat?

The past five years the Cubs were the team other teams were supposed to beat.

The mood permeating the ballpark now is that the Cubs expect to win, their fans expect to sing “Go Cubs Go” at the end of the day and even the media expect to chronicle another victory.

Ho-ho-ho-hum, baby.

This is shaping up as one of those years for the Cubs. Maybe it won't wind up being the next year they have been waiting for but it can be one of those years just the same.

The other team's pitcher pitches well and the Cubs' pitches just a little bit better. The other team's bloops land foul and the Cubs' land fair. The other team's blasts are caught just short of the outfield wall and the Cubs' carry into the basket.

“Just crazy,” Cubs' manager Joe Maddon said of the 2-1 victory over the Indians. “A real interesting game.”

Most interesting was that infielder Tommy La Stella didn't record the winning hit.

Don't be surprised if La Stella contributes mightily during this week's big road trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles. That has been the Cubs' pattern in 2015.

La Stella, who was with the Cubs until going on the disabled list in April, was promoted from the minors Monday when Jorge Soler went on the DL.

“It's never good losing a Soler from the lineup,” Maddon said, “but we're covered.”

The way things have gone for the Cubs you get the feeling that if Anthony Rizzo was injured, Lou Gehrig would heal his own disease and appear out of nowhere to play first base.

A couple infielders were hurt early, Kris Bryant came up to play third base and his game-winning home run Monday against Cleveland gave him 21 homers and 75 runs batted in.

Miguel Montero went on the disabled list, the Cubs needed a catcher and Kyle Schwarber thundered up from the minors.

“It's called depth,” Maddon said. “You have to have depth. It seems like everybody who has jumped in has done a pretty good job.”

But it isn't just that Bryant, Schwarber and Addison Russell came up from the minors red-hot and ready.

It's that maybe they came up a bit sooner than later — especially Schwarber — because somebody suffered what became an injury that was fortuitous for the Cubs.

That's when you sense something special might be happening: “Fortuitous” and “injury” in the same sentence.

Bryant and Schwarber arrived and almost immediately recorded big hits and lengthened the Cubs' lineup.

Now it's La Stella's turn and as confident as the Cubs are, they expect him to do nothing but help win games.

La Stella played second base, batted sixth and went hitless in three at-bats.

But that was one game, and Maddon sounds certain that he'll get more offense from La Stella, who came from the Braves during the offseason.

“Tommy was a big part of our plans (before his April injury),” Maddon said.

Now La Stella is again because the Cubs have become accustomed to anybody and everybody producing.

It has been that kind of season.

Ho-hum, indeed.

mimrem@dailyherald.com