Constable: For the Cubs, Reds are no Kansas City Cowboys
Whenever the first-place Chicago Cubs struggle with injuries and fall into a bit of a funk this season, the schedule gives them a dose of division-trailing Cincinnati Reds, which generally cures all ills.
But the Reds staged a come-from-behind 5-3 victory Wednesday at Wrigley Field to take two out of three games in the series and leave stunned Cubs fans with an all-too-familiar feeling.
“Oh, my God! Our Cubs have lost four of the last five series. We got swept by the hated New York Mets and the even-more-hated St. Louis Cardinals. And now we can't even beat the Reds at home,” fans wail. “What's next?”
The short answer is the Atlanta Braves, baseball's worst team, who swing by Wrigley Field for a makeup game before the Cubs head to Pittsburgh for a weekend showdown with the Pirates. And the Cubs are 8-1 against the Pirates so far this season.
So take a deep breath and take comfort that the Cubs still boast the best record in the National League and are guaranteed of going into next week's All-Star Game break as the division leader.
Just as fans drinking the Cubs' Kool-Aid were wrong to assume the red-hot team would stay on a pace to win 136 games, fans drowning their sorrows should realize the Cubs are good enough to pick up the pace again once some key players return. Baseball is a game of streaks.
The Cubs are now 10-3 against the Reds this year, outscoring them by a total of 105 to 50. There is nothing wrong with making hay against a last-place team. The Cardinals and the Pirates get to play the Reds, too. As Cubs manager Joe Maddon told the Daily Herald's Bruce Miles after the Cubs won the first game of the series, “Hey, it's better than not beating the Reds.” Now, after watching the Cubs drop the last two games of the series, we all have a much better grasp of what he meant.
From 2010 through 2014, the Reds owned the Cubs, as Chicago won only 28 games and lost 60. The Cubs hold a slight edge in the all-time series against the Cincinnati Reds, winning 1,136 while losing 1,119. While the team might be known as lovable losers, the Cubs, with a lifetime record of 10,660 wins and 10,162 losses, have won more games than any franchise in baseball except the Giants, who boasted 10,917 wins and 9,373 losses going into Wednesday night's action, according to baseball-reference.com.
The Cubs have compiled the most wins (1,232) against the Braves while losing just 1,037. But the Cubs' best winning percentage came against the now-defunct Kansas City Cowboys. Around only for the 1886 season, the Cowboys lost 15 straight games against Chicago and 17 out of 18 on the season. The only loss for Chicago was an 8-7 heartbreaker at home. Chicago manager Cap Anson didn't apologize for piling up wins against the Cowboys.
Momentum is fickle, and a winning streak can quash doubts just as quickly as a losing streak can fan the flames of worry.
The Cubs famously pounded the New York Mets last season, winning all seven games. Then the playoffs rolled around, and the Mets swept four from the Cubs. They did the same during last week's four-game series in New York. The Cubs still hold a 10-game lifetime advantage on the Mets, winning 366 while losing 356.
It might surprise some Cubs fans to know that the Cubs have a winning record against the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Cubs winning 1,201 and losing 1,152. The Cardinals have a losing record against only two other National League teams, the Giants and the Pirates. The Cubs have a losing record against Pittsburgh, 1,192-1,258, a streak that started in 1887 when the Pittsburgh Alleghenys won the first four games en route to a 12-5 record against Chicago. The Cubs have lost more games to Pittsburgh than to any other team in baseball.
But they can cut into that deficit with a three-game sweep this weekend in Pittsburgh. And if the Cubs lose all three? Some of us will bolster our spirits with more sips from the Cubs' Kool-Aid.