Trade chatter can't take away how Bryant feels about playing for Cubs

The Cubs' core will be known forever as the streak busters, finally satisfying generations of Cubs fans wondering if they'd ever celebrate a World Series title in their lifetime.

The significance of snapping a 107-year World Series championship drought shouldn't be underestimated. And no team in the last 21 seasons has successfully defended their Series title.

"Sometimes the narrative out there hasn't been right, and it's been frustrating for me to see some of that," Kris Bryant said Tuesday night. "But deep down in my heart, I've had some of the best memories here and the best times of my life."

But for all the free dinners and drinks provided to executives and players as a token of their appreciation, excuse those ambitious supporters who anticipated more Series appearances because of a talented and young nucleus several years away from free agency.

Bears fans can relate. They still revere their 1985 team, as evidenced by the popularity at public events 36 years after winning their lone Super Bowl title. But an array of shortcomings resulted in only one playoff victory in the next four years despite possessing one of the NFL's greatest defenses.

At one point, the Cubs looked like they could avoid this gradual decline. Cries of a "World Series hangover" in 2017 quelled when they erased a 5½-game deficit during a 12-game stretch in late July, and they took advantage of the Nationals' mishaps to advance to the National League Championship Series for the third consecutive year.

Bryant is on the verge of departing with ample satisfaction. He lived up to his billing as the second overall pick in the 2013 draft by winning the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year and 2015 NL Most Valuable Player awards in his first two seasons.

After injuries dented his 2018 and 2020 seasons, a healthy Bryant appeared happier as he adjusted well to high fastballs and earned his fourth NL All-Star Game selection earlier this month.

Bryant was one of several special contributors. Jake Arrieta's 2015 season ranks as one of the best in modern history. Jon Lester provided a firm pillar in the rotation and in the clubhouse. Ben Zobrist was the epitome of a team player, and his bicycle ride to Wrigley Field in his uniform provided levity matched only by inherently innovative manager Joe Maddon.

John Lackey achieved his mission of getting his jewelry in the form of a World Series ring while administering some tough love to his teammates when he deemed it necessary.

However, warning signs surfaced during the second half of the 2018 season that resulted in the dismissal of hitting coach Chili Davis. The minor league reinforcements weren't talented enough to occasionally rest a weary team that played 29 games in 30 days through late September.

And they lacked a killer instinct, as the feisty Brewers erased a five-game deficit in the final four weeks by taking four of six games from the Cubs and winning their final eight games.

That should have warranted personnel changes, even if some of the trade offers didn't match up talent-wise. Javier Baez admitted the following spring that he and some of his teammates might not have prepared properly before games.

It was a curious comment, considering Baez produced an MVP-caliber season. But the development of reliever Carl Edwards Jr. and shortstop Addison Russell regressed, and Russell's struggles were compounded by spousal abuse charges that led to a 40-game suspension through the start of 2019.

Nick Castellanos supplied power and an overdue sense of urgency in the final two months of 2019, but all the flaws surfaced during a nine-game losing streak that eliminated them from the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

The lack of a fertile farm system, and the inability to secure extensions with several core players, or trade them with at least two years before free agency legitimized doubt about the future.

Reality finally sunk in when Anthony Rizzo's representatives were informed after the 2019 that talks on an extension were off the table.

Even Bryant sought escape from recent trade chatter by playing the guitar, spending time with son Kyler, eating chocolate cake and ice cream, and getting nine hours of sleep.

"It helps," Bryant said.

But for many Cubs fans, the ice cream melted before they could taste it.

• Mark Gonzales is a veteran sports writer who covered the White Sox from 2005-2012 and the Cubs from 2013-2020 for the Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @MDGonzales