The Cubs are exactly who we used to think they were
How many times this season has Cubs manager Craig Counsell asked himself why he accepted his current job last off-season?
Watching Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Giants, he had to be asking himself that, didn’t he? And Friday’s 11-1 loss to the Mets too, right? Or maybe it was something along the lines of, what have I gotten myself into?
At least the Cubs didn’t blow a save Friday. Or lose another 1-run game.
The free-falling Cubs are 18-28 since May 1. They are 36-40 on the season and have fallen into fourth place like a ship’s anchor searching for the bottom of the sea. The Reds are fifth only by a percentage point.
He had a nice, cushy job managing the Brewers, where he was a beloved and successful hometown hero. He gave it up for a payday.
The Brewers are in first place at 44-31, an 8.5-game lead over the Cubs.
We expected the White Sox to be terrible. They have met expectations, as low as those expectations were.
We had higher hopes for the Cubs. Maybe not winning another World Series, but a playoff team. Barring a dramatic turnaround, it appears we were wrong.
The Cubs are not a normal franchise, never have been, at least in our lifetimes, and 2016 didn’t change that. That World Series championship was fool’s gold, leading us to believe things had changed when we know now it was a fluke. The odds caught up with the Cubs, at long last, and they couldn’t avoid winning any longer.
And now it appears we’re back to normal. The baseball gods are torturing us. They’re laughing at us.
Is that five-year, $40 million contract Counsell signed worth it to deal with the hex this club remains under? Can he handle the stress of losing in such creative and distressing ways?
More importantly, can Counsell find a way to turn things around? If not this year, then next?
Whatever could go wrong, seems to go wrong. There’s Mike Tauchman motioning for the trainer to run out to first base after Tauchman legged out a hit. Here’s Tauchman joining several of his teammates on the injured list. Are there more Cubs on the IL than the active roster yet?
It’s looking like it’s going to be a very long summer.
So for the sake of positivity, let’s remember one good thing Cubs fans and Sox fans alike can say to ease the pain. At least we lived long enough to see each team win one championship. We got ours. That might have to be enough.
* * *
On these pages last Sunday, the Daily Herald published a story about Kansas legislators hoping to convince the Kansas City Chiefs to move from Missouri over to their state. The Associated Press article pointed out that numerous economic studies show building stadiums for sports teams does little to nothing to help anyone’s economy.
The article quoted J.C. Bradbury, an economics and finance professor from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, who said studies show subsidizing stadiums is “a terrible channel for economic growth.”
Bradbury, who has reviewed and written such studies himself, added, “Stadiums are poor public investment, and I would say it's a near unanimous consensus.”
It’s something to remember as the Bears, White Sox and Red Stars continue to beg for taxpayers to fund their stadium requests.
Daily Herald Sports Editor Orrin Schwarz can be reached at oschwarz@dailyherald.com.