It’s 102 days till Aug. 1, the presumed begin of the Caleb Williams period with the Bears within the Corridor of Fame Recreation in Canton, Ohio.
That’s a very long time for the Cubs to hold the hopes of Chicago sports activities followers on their backs.
The United Heart will likely be shuttered for the Bulls and Blackhawks, our two winter groups that ended their seasons this week in utter disappointment and apathy, respectively.
White Sox Park will likely be largely empty as baseball followers studiously keep away from watching maybe the worst workforce in Chicago historical past, whereas the Sky are beginning a complete rebuild.
That leaves Wrigley Discipline as the one actual vacation spot for leisure the following few months, assuming the Cubs can preserve issues fascinating till Williams’ much-hyped arrival.
Three weeks into the season, it’s nonetheless anybody’s guess.
The Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Saturday night time at Wrigley Discipline to separate a doubleheader with a franchise that waved the white flag over the winter.
After Adbert Alzolay coughed up a one-run ninth-inning lead within the opener, his fourth blown save in seven probabilities and the Cubs’ sixth of their first 10, Shota Imanaga pitched six robust innings and the Cubs offense awoke simply in time towards a pitcher who posted a ten.97 ERA in three video games in Triple A and was making his big-league debut.
Cody Bellinger and Alexander Canario homered, and the Cubs scored 4 sixth-inning runs to take management on a windy, 42-degree night time in Wrigleyville. Hector Neris registered his first save as a Cub with a scoreless ninth inning, maybe auditioning for a brand new position.
Photographs: Chicago Cubs lose to Miami Marlins 3-2 in Recreation 1 of a doubleheader
The Cubs have been 13-8 after the break up and can attempt to win the collection Sunday with Kyle Hendricks getting what might be a make-or-break begin.
What sort of workforce the Cubs actually have is open to debate. It’s a glass-half-full situation.
“You’re what your file is,” supervisor Craig Counsell mentioned matter-of-factly earlier than the doubleheader.
In that case the Cubs have been on tempo earlier than Sunday to win 100 video games, which appears virtually as unlikely because the bullpen’s early tempo to submit 46 blown saves.
They’re someplace between dominant and a heartbreak in progress.
Imanaga’s efficiency wasn’t fairly as eye-opening as his earlier three begins, when he didn’t enable an earned run. However he improved to 3-0 and gave up solely two earned runs on 5 hits, with 5 strikeouts and no walks. His streak of 18 1/3 innings of not permitting an earned run to start out his Cubs profession was the third longest in franchise historical past behind Invoice Lee (19 innings in 1934) and Larry Cheney (27⅔ innings in 1911-12).
Imanaga mentioned via an interpreter that he struggled a bit, however the one actually hard-hit balls off him have been an RBI double from Tim Anderson within the fourth and a house run from Josh Bell within the sixth.
“My good pitches, once I’m executing, they’re fouling off, or they’re simply taking,” he mentioned. “The pitches that the standard just isn’t good, they’re being hit.”
A sweep of the Marlins in a four-game collection may need been asking for lots, however this workforce got here into Saturday with a 4-16 file, so many Cubs followers anticipated it. The Cubs can nonetheless take the collection Sunday after which face a struggling Houston Astros workforce subsequent week.
“The season doesn’t offer you what you need,” Counsell mentioned. “You’ve obtained to go midway with what the sport affords you typically. We overcame a troublesome loss as we speak and performed a pleasant recreation.”
Cubs DH Garrett Cooper mentioned Marlins rookie starter Roddery Munoz stored them off stability till Canario’s leadoff dwelling run knocked him out within the sixth. The Cubs then garnered 4 hits in 5 at-bats off reliever Anthony Bender, together with a two-run, go-ahead single by Michael Busch and Cooper’s RBI single that made it 5-3.
“That’s what you do, you decide up your teammates,” Cooper mentioned, referring to Alzolay’s loss in Recreation 1. “There are ups and downs, and the downs could be fairly dangerous in the event you take it too emotionally. Coming off that early loss, we got here out a little bit flat, however we picked it up towards and the tip and capitalized with a win.”
The Cubs have been with out Ian Happ, who suffered hamstring tightness in Friday’s recreation. Counsell mentioned Happ would possibly sit Sunday as nicely, with Monday’s off day offering additional time to heal. Canario had some shaky moments in left however didn’t make any errors.
Cubs followers spent many of the night time attempting to maintain heat and booing Anderson, apparently for the crime of being a former White Sox participant. They even booed him after the bat slipped out of his hand throughout one at-bat and sailed to the backstop.
At the least one Marlins participant was offering some leisure.
Cooper, a former Marlin, is considerably appalled by what he has seen occur to a workforce that gained 84 video games in 2023 and misplaced a wild-card collection to the Philadelphia Phillies. He blames higher administration for not supporting Skip Schumaker, probably the greatest younger managers round.
“Once I first obtained traded over there (in 2018) they sort of bought all people off and began contemporary,” Cooper mentioned. “And it seems like they’re doing the identical factor now. They didn’t spend any cash this offseason coming off a playoff berth. It’s powerful for town, powerful for the followers. You’d prefer to see a workforce that made the playoffs construct on one thing like that, and it’s sort of a slap within the face to the followers that help the workforce.
“It’s a tough time to be a (Marlins) fan proper now.”
It may be a very good time to be a Cubs fan, relying on whether or not the bullpen can keep away from blowing video games each few days, like those in San Diego and Arizona and Recreation 1 on Saturday. All three have been on Alzolay.
However not less than they’ve been capable of come again after these horrible losses and never allow them to linger, as they did within the first few months of 2023, once they fell 10 video games below .500 by mid-June.
“Each recreation is a brand new journey and a brand new journey, and we did a pleasant job bouncing again as we speak,” Counsell mentioned.
New adventures at outdated Wrigley.
Keep tuned for subsequent week’s episodes.
