Since winning the World Series in 2016, the Cubs are just 4-9 in the playoffs and have not won a playoff game since game 4 of the 2017 NLCS. The Cubs scored one run in the two games against the Miami Marlins, despite the Marlins’ team era of nearly five.
The Cubs have been an all or nothing offense over the last three seasons, one game they will score 10 runs but the next 5 games, the bats will struggle to match the run total of one game. Theo Epstein’s contract is up after next season and he met with team owner Tom Ricketts recently to talk about his future.
During the team’s season ending press conference this week, Epstein, kept all options open with respect to his contract year. Epstein said that he expects to remain on the north side in 2021. When it came to addressing the offensive woes, Epstein said, “Bat to ball skills are fairly innate – you’re born with it or not – but you can improve contact a bit at the margins. If you want to dramatically improve contact, though, you have to add players who have that skill. Happ did a great job addressing contact issues, as an example, but if you want major increases, you have to add those players.”
The big question about Epstein is how much will he invest in the team assuming he is not going to be with the Cubs past next year?
2021 is going to be an interesting year at Clark and Addison both before and during the season. Javy Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber are to be free agents after next season and the shortened season helped plummeted their potential trade value.
To illustrate how far the Cubs are from being a true contender, the Atlanta Braves turned around to sweep the Marlins in the division series. This tweet shows exit velocity off the Braves hitters bats.
As with an all or nothing offense, the Cubs have been heavily reliant on the homerun ball, which can make any team vulnerable in October. This troublesome fact has shown in their last three playoff games where they scored two runs in three games. Ever since Dexter Fowler left for free agency after 2016, the Cubs have had multiple leadoff hitters including Rizzo and Bryant on a few occasions. Yes Fowler has struggled in St. Louis but he was a major factor in putting the Cubs over the top in 2016.
In the wild card series, the farthest a Cubs hitter hit the ball was 316 feet, whereas the Braves exceeded 316 feet four times off Marlins starter Sixto Sanchez. The Braves aren’t the best team in the senior circuit and yet they easily handled a team that handicapped the Cubs. That statement shows how far the Cubs are from being a true contender.
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