May 31, 2023: Rays of Light

posted in: Cubs | 0

Raise your hand if you thought the Cubs would win a series against the best team in baseball at Wrigley this week; my hand is down. Thought for sure the Cubs would just be pushed further down into the basement of the National League Central, which is where we still sit anyways by percentage points, but no… we were able to pull off the near impossible by taking 2 out of 3 from the Rays, who really did provide some rays of light.

Marcus Stroman: let me start there. Sure, he’s only 5-4, but he has pitched like an ace right? 2.59 ERA & 0.99 WHIP still mean something in today’s expanded stat world right? A complete game shutout is how he started this series against Tampa Bay; he needed to shut them out too. Yes, the Cubs squeaked out a 1-0 victory on Monday night. He’s really only had 2 bad outings all year. Maybe I was wrong about him… I thought he was a #3 starter, #2 at best when the Cubs signed him; I wasn’t all that thrilled about it. However, what he is done this year has been outstanding, and of course, that is why the trade rumors flared up… hilarious. We finally get a guy that is doing well, and bam… let’s trade him. I know, it’s part of the business, especially for a team like the Cubs, who are continuing to sit in the back of the room, waiting for “the right time” to strike again… yawn. Yes, for a rebuilding team, years away from competing, trading him may make sense; selling high is always smart, especially if you think it won’t last. How far are the Cubs away from competing? Looking at the NL Central, we should be competing NOW… but, we’ve been over this before.

In Game 2 on Tuesday, it was more good pitching that lead the way; this time, it was a familiar face. Yes, Kyle Hendricks did the deed. After a subpar effort in his season debut last week against the Mets, The Professor fired 5 innings of 1 run ball; again, he needed to hold them down, because we only scored 2 runs the whole game. Another low scoring, one run victory, gave the Cubs the series win. The series finale was setting up the same way, with Justin Steele on the mound. Steele, who has been great this year, other than his last start which of course we were in attendance for, held the Rays hitless in 3 innings before departing with an arm injury; uh oh… that’s never good. Expect him to be on the shelf for a minute; add that to the Cubs non-compete philosophy, we may not see him for a while; that sucks.

Six runs the entire series doesn’t exactly instill confidence, but the pitching we got does. To the west coast we head; San Diego is up next. Not as bad as you may think; they’re only 1 game better than us… that was surprising to see. Will I be able to stay up late to watch what happens? Will it be worth it? Go Cubs!

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