Epstein: Cubs schedule 'was a lot, but every team has things to deal with'

If you thought the Chicago Cubs were a bit "off" this season or that something didn't seem right, you weren't alone.

And forget about the numbers for a minute. Cubs President Theo Epstein did so for about 6½ extraordinary minutes during his end-of-season news conference Wednesday.

About 27 minutes into Epstein's meeting with the Chicago media, I asked him about how big a factor the schedule and fatigue were in the team finishing the season with a thud, losing in Game 163 of the regular season to the Milwaukee Brewers and in the wild-card game to the Colorado Rockies.

The question was prefaced that the schedule was what it was - 42 scheduled game days in 43 days down the stretch - and that nobody likes to hear excuses.

I wasn't sure what Epstein would say, but his answer was more than 1,000 words long, and he cut off another question by telling a reporter he wasn't finished yet.

Apparently he had some things on his mind other than the numbers. And he wanted to get things out and in doing so, he provided some possible guidance for the future.

"It was a lot, but every team has things to deal with," he began, citing the schedule. "We weren't hitting. We weren't producing offensively before that stretch started. Look, there was kind of an interesting reaction to the loss (Tuesday) night in the clubhouse.

"You had a number of guys who were really proud of the season and everything that our guys overcame, including missing a number of key players due to injury. But also that grind of the schedule is really relentless to have to go through that. It was a gauntlet, 42 in 43, which is unheard of. It's a quarter of the season. And they did stick together and really ground through that in positive way. We played winning baseball through that stretch.

"I understand where they're coming from, and I share a lot of those sentiments. That is something to be proud of, but not an excuse at all."

Epstein then referenced something said by MVP candidate shortstop Javier Baez. After the loss in the wild-card game, Baez stood at his locker at around 1 a.m. to try to put things into words.

"We struggled all April," Baez said. "We just kept going about, 'We're going to get it back. We're going to be together.' But it never came to us. We were never in a rhythm of winning games. I think it was because we were paying attention to other teams because we were going down because we lost so many people from our lineup. We were paying attention to what other teams were doing, and that's not how it works.

"Next year, we're going to come back and fight again. We're going to make the adjustment about that because I'm going to make sure, I don't want to hear anything about it. We know what we've got."

Epstein took notice, and he got to the heart of the matter.

"There were players who were looking at it a little differently, like Javy, for example, talking about in some ways we struggled and in some ways something was 'off' a little bit all year; we never got on that roll," Epstein said. "We have to own that. And I agree with that.

"And (pitcher) Jon Lester, in his own way, dragging body parts through the dirt to an acknowledgment to where we are or where we aren't and that maybe that's a good thing in the long run and that it'll lead to the universal recognition that nothing will be given to us. I very much understand those types of sentiments, too."

Epstein was just getting warmed up.

"If we're being totally honest - and this is a theme that has come up a little bit with some of the players as we talked to them and that we felt through the course of the year - there was a lot to grind through and there is a lot to be proud of, but we could have done more from Day 1 through 162 as far as complete sense of urgency every day, being completely on mission every day, showing up with that assertiveness and that edge every single day to win. Again, 95 wins is tremendous."

The Cubs got off to a lackluster start this season, flirting with the .500 mark until early May.

"Sometimes, divisions aren't lost on that last day of the season when you only score one run. Or they're not lost the last week and a half when the other team (Brewers) goes 8-0 and you went 4-3 and needed to go 5-2. ... Sometimes a loss early in the season, when you have an opportunity to push for that sweep but you've already got two out of three and you're just not quite there with that killer instinct as a team.

"Do you know what that makes us? Human. But that's something in 2016 that we had. The guys who have been here the whole time acknowledged that, that from Game 1 through Game 162 we had that sense of urgency. There was no complacency. We were completely on mission, and we showed up to assert ourselves and to win every single game.

"And that might win you that one extra game or in the case of 2016, it puts you in a position where you can really rest and prepare down the stretch for the playoffs. We have to own this. We have to be honest about that: It's been a little bit different since 2016. We have to get back to that."

Epstein seemed to indicate that getting "back to that" will be doable. With that, he looked forward to 2019.

"I don't think there's some kind of fatal flaw in the clubhouse," he said. "If we're being honest about it, as Jon Lester said, maybe this will be good for us because if you just show up playing it cool, knowing you're talented, knowing it's a long season and trusting that the talent will manifest over the course of 162, sometimes you end up one game short.

"And that's not who we are. It's not who we want to be. It's not what we're all about. I think we have to own that, and we have to recognize it, and I think our players do, talking to them today. Maybe that feeling in the clubhouse (Tuesday) night, which was a whole lot of (ticked) off and disappointed and frustrated, will be our rallying cry next year."