Baffoe: The Cubs 'Slump' & Bad Drugs
By Tim Baffoe--
(CBS) How about that new Coloring Book by Chicago's own Chance the Rapper, huh? It's a masterpiece of compressing pains of a certain adolescence into adulthood and channeling them into glass-half-full art through the lens of child-like joy and faithfulness. Its greatest flaw is that it makes me want to relisten and relisten to the point that I'm worried I'll burn myself out on it. That's my nitpicking.
I'm especially partial to the song "Same Drugs," a Peter Pan allegory that works not only as tale of life's paths causing missed opportunities or forcing lamentable breakups but as a reminder not to lose all of the purity and innocence that got you through the lean, young years, to stay grounded.
We don't do the same drugs no more...
Be it supposed fans, haters or people paid to produce breath or ink about the 2016 Chicago Cubs, we're all looking for a new high. And in this new territory in which we all find ourselves of navigating the largely smooth waters of the 2016 Chicago Cubs, it has been quite the exercise in deviating far off the logical path in search of ways to cook up a new hot dose of stupid.
I get it. We went from dabbling last year in the crystallization of The Plan to the strange euphoria of elite expectations in spring training to the seeming unreality of utter dominance with which the Cubs cruised through the season's first quarter.
At some point, everyone develops a tolerance to the good feelings that crushing an entire league produces. When the upped dosage reaches a peak, the fix needs to be found elsewhere. So the high of choice may become panic or extra-stretched criticism. Whatever gets the heart rate up, the sweat on the brow and a tingle below.
We don't do the, we don't do the same drugs, do the same drugs no more...
So take the recent "slump" -- the Cubs had lost eight of their last 12 games before taking the final two games of this recent series against the rival St. Louis Cardinals. Joe Maddon's team was swooning to an abysmal 29-14 record that was threatening to give the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates a chance to see a sliver of light in their distance behind the NL Central leaders.
There's the old baseball adage that you're going to win 60 games and lose 60 games, and it's what you do in the other 42 that determines your fate. But as of Thursday morning, the Cubs are on pace to win 111.6 games this season, meaning the losses part of that adage doesn't quite apply. A lot of baseball standards haven't quite fit these Cubs, and I'll spare you the list of historical statistical anomalies this roster has already compiled.
Still, some were quick to throw that "slump" word out there. It conjures up those endorphins that give the pleasure of the negative so many with an attachment to Cubs baseball relish in. "Ya know, if they can lose eight of 12, they can lose four of seven in October," in that awful Judge Smails voice. "If Madison Bumgarner can shut them down in May, why should we expect greatness in the postseason?"
We don't do the same drugs no more...
Here's a big secret about the best baseball teams in MLB history (and I'm not yet putting these Cubs in that category): They lost games, a whole bunch of 'em in fact. Baseball demands such. And sometimes that whole bunch of losses happens in bunches, like in a 4-8 stretch, much the same way wins can happen in bunches for a team that can go until May 11 before losing consecutive games.
Some rub their hands vigorously over as a slump when it's really just the reality of baseball even for a really good team.
Jake Arrieta wasn't good Wednesday, and he still won. So do we focus on how he's more man than god?
The offense valleyed for a while, and the Cubs are still 17 games above .500 right now. They just scored 21 runs in their last two games. So do we flap hands over the plus-119 run differential meaning nothing in an October Game 7?
The bullpen has been less than perfect, and it's still one of the game's best. So do we speculate about how much executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are freaking out and forcing a trade on the phones right now?
Jason Heyward makes a lot of money, which is somehow an affront to you admirably performing your five-figure job that nobody tunes in to watch.
Must. Inject. Pessimism. Into. Bloodstream. To. Feel. Anything.
Remember when the great preseason worry was a lack of backup first baseman to Rizzo? Say that out loud and then punch yourself.
"It's a long season, man," pitcher John Lackey, who wears his irascibility on his sleeve maybe more than any Cub in-game, said after the Cubs dropped the opener to St. Louis. "They're a good team. They'll be fine. We've got to worry about ourselves. They're kind of irrelevant. If we play our game, we'll be OK.
"We need to play better, 100 percent. Worry, I think, is a strong word. We're doing OK."
That's like comfortably-in-first-place OK, best-offense-in-baseball OK, best-pitching-in-the-game OK.
Need to nitpick to find anything that can pass as criticizable because just talking about the obvious big picture doesn't tickle us anymore? O. Period. K. Period.
The Cubs have the best run differential in MLB by 41 runs after a rough patch that the front office literally said would happen, but go on with your panicked self the next time they drop three of four.
Talk about how they strike out too much (20 teams whiff at a higher rate), ignore that they walk more than any team, demand spackling of no gaping hole in lineup. This team isn't allowed to be shut down by great pitching.
What isn't broke certainly must be fixed. We need to change up the dosage. Trade people, bench guys, send Jorge Soler to the minors where everything mythically gets remedied, including an armchair GM's sense of superiority.
Meanwhile the manager, hopefully the players and definitely the front office look at losing eight of 12 like the foul-but-fleeting fart that it was and similar bunches will be.
And Chance. Listen to Chance.
Don't forget the happy thoughts
All you need is happy thoughts
Enjoy this thing in at least a glass-half-full manner. Stop finding the misery that isn't there. Be disappointed in a loss and move on. Remember the pure joy from, like, two weeks ago?
Wide eyed kids being kids
Why did you stop?
The Cubs are going to win many more games, way more than the many they will lose between now and season's end. There will be more fallacious "slumps" between periods of dominance.
Where did you go to end up right back here?
When did you start to forget how to fly?
Choosing to wax on a cluster of regular-season losses and connecting them to the hypotheticals of the postseason gets nobody anywhere but scoring the cheapest and most fleeting of highs.
When logical constructive criticism is warranted, bring it. Until then, do a different drug instead.
Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.
