For all the understandable angst expressed over the Cubs' crummy relief pitching, consider the reality of the National League Championship Series as it returns to Wrigley Field.
Hitters have had ample opportunities to make the bullpen breakdowns a moot point -- and swung and missed. Repeatedly.
Cubs relievers giving up epic home runs have obscured the bigger issue that could have erased all of Manager Joe Maddon's miscalculations: The Cubs stopped hitting in October.
You can debate whether the Cubs bullpen or their bats have been worse against the Dodgers and nobody would be wrong. The bullpen has been bad -- 19 runs and 19 walks in 24⅓ postseason innings -- and the bats have been worse.
But fixing the bullpen requires an entire offseason for Cubs President Theo Epstein. Igniting the offense before Game 3 is something Maddon can do today when he sits down to write out a Cubs lineup that needs shaken up.
Maddon can start by benching Jason Heyward, who hasn't driven in a run this postseason. Heyward can sit next to Javy Baez, hitless in 19 playoff at-bats and too often clueless at the plate. Their defense isn't worth the automatic outs. They can sit next to Ben Zobrist and reminisce about the days the Cubs used to get big hits in the postseason -- and we're not talking about bloop singles.
We're talking about singles and doubles with runners in scoring position and two outs. We're talking situational hitting, going the opposite way or taking a smart two-strike approach. We're talking about everything the Cubs have yet to do against the Dodgers or, really, in seven playoff games this month.
Kris Bryant is hitting .179, and his next playoff home run will be his first this year. Anthony Rizzo, who has gone four consecutive playoff games without a hit, is stuck at .154.
As a team, the Cubs are hitting .162 in the postseason, with 73 strikeouts in 210 at-bats. They have scored 20 runs in seven games -- and nine of those came in one wacky Game 5 against the Nationals when they really didn't hit the ball that hard. That means the Cubs are averaging 1.83 runs per game in the six other playoff games.
Against Dodgers pitching, a one-run deficit feels insurmountable the way the Cubs are hitting, and a walk seems like charity. Of the 25 Cubs who have faced Dodgers relievers, none has managed a hit.
So Maddon must try something, anything, to loosen things up. The Cubs look like they are squeezing the bat handle tighter than ever.
Start Ian Happ, the forgotten one, who ripped 24 home runs in his rookie season but has four postseason at-bats. Happ can't be worse than Heyward. Let infielder Tommy La Stella and his natural hitting eye see Dodgers pitching. Are you still awake, backup catcher Alex Avila? Maybe giving Willson Contreras a break would help him stop a .182 postseason skid.
What about leading Rizzo off to see if it has the same impact it did in June? Did Kyle Schwarber stop by Arizona on the way home from Los Angeles to see if a few at-bats with the Mesa Solar Sox sharpens his postseason swing the way it did before the 2016 World Series? How about moving Addison Russell, perhaps the only core Cubs player who looks like himself at the plate, into the cleanup spot?
Really, nothing Maddon does with the lineup now could be much more outrageous than handing the ball to a 38-year-old starting pitcher working relief for the second day in a row, and the first time in his career, to face the Dodgers' most clutch hitter, Justin Turner. Giving Happ and La Stella a shot to bolster the offense is nothing compared with calling on John Lackey to pitch the ninth inning of a tied NLCS game.
"I inherited something from my dad, and that was patience," Maddon said Monday.
So that helps explain why it took Maddon 36 games to realize Schwarber leading off was a bad idea. But trailing the best team in baseball 2-0 in the NLCS seems more suited for urgency than patience.
Sports on 10/17/2017