“Holy cow! What a ride we’re enjoying. It seems as if the boys in blue took the pre-season advice of Manager Joe Maddon – and are running all over the competition with it. More than an approach to avoiding the team’s historical arc toward self-destruction, Maddon’s directive to ‘embrace the target,’ has removed the fear of success from a battered organization. And its fan base.”
Read the full post at Wrigleyville Nation.
“Then Schwarber was carted off the field. The 23 year-old lefty hit 16 home runs in 69 games for the team last season, and was anticipated to be an integral part of the Cubs 2016 offense. As he left the diamond with the help of trainers P.J. Mainville and Ed Halbur, you could hear the collective groans inside the park and out. This is how the implosion starts, right?…
In a highly competitive NL Central Division, the Chicago Cubs are off like a shot with a 14-5 record that puts them ahead three and a half games over the Cardinals. It is but April and there’s much baseball to be played, but the Cubs are so stacked with talent, from the office to the dugout to bullpen and field, that the old cynicism model appears hopelessly outdated.”
“Historically, as members of Cubs Nation know, fandom hasn’t always been fun. But Joe Maddon’s time in Chicago has been literally and metaphorically marked by a refreshing change in attitude. A terrific winning season buttressed by a collegial lightheartedness about the silly stuff is beginning to put distance between today and the darker days of Wrigley gone by.”
“It’s a season of comfort and unreserved giving for Cubs fans. At the time of this post, the thermometer registers an unseasonably terrific 59 degrees Fahrenheit – two days before Christmas. Throw in intermittent pouring rain and if one closes their eyes to the encroaching late afternoon darkness, it feels an awful lot like spring.”
Read the full post at Wrigleyville Nation.
“The Cubs have given their legions of fans many gifts in 2015. But the greatest of all is the big-picture, long-term strategic thinking that made Epstein a hero in Boston. It seems rather unlikely that this management team would perpetrate a Lee Smith/Greg Maddux – style debacle. Getting an even-to-better end of a deal? Who’d have thought? It really is a new era of hope and possibility in Cubs Nation.”
becky sarwate 