The Magic
The unsung guys often make it happen
As I write this, the Cubs are in the midst of an incredible run. They have won their last 8 games in a row, the last three via walk-off. They’ve won their last 14 at Wrigley Field, the most consecutive games they’ve won at home since 2008 (the record is 18, going back to 1935). The Cubs have gone 19-4 since losing to the Pirates on April 11, a loss that prompted manager Craig Counsell to declare that things would turn.
They definitely have.
In that stretch, the Cubs have gone from two games below .500 and in last in their division to 13 games above .500 with a 3.5 game lead in the NL Central. They’ve had winning streaks of 10 in a row and their (ongoing) 8 in a row. Including the last three nights, they’ve had six walk-off wins since April 11.
The season is only about six weeks old, so it’s way too early to make grand declarations, but I can’t really recall a time when the Cubs looked this smiled upon by the baseball gods. Despite injuries to their pitching staff that just don’t seem to end, including a setback in Justin Steele’s recovery that has now put his return this season in question, they keep on winning. They’re even suffering weird injuries to pitchers; Ethan Roberts cut his hand when a vent cover fell out of a ceiling above him and he had to deflect it, and on Wednesday Matt Boyd tore his left meniscus sitting down to play with his kids. He’ll need surgery and will likely be out for a while.
But still, they keep winning.
There’s definitely some good fortune involved — you can’t win at this rate without at least a few things breaking your way — but it’s a greater testament to the depth of talent in the organization. In order to absorb as many injuries as they’ve had to their pitching staff, the Cubs have to have the arms in the system to take their place.
Take Wednesday night’s game, for example. Most fans put the most attention on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s game-tying home run in the ninth inning, or the bases loaded at-bat Michael Busch had that ended in him taking first and forcing a runner home to win the game.
But I’d like to point some of the attention to starting pitcher Colin Rea. He’s one of the least flashy or attention-seeking players on the team, but at the same time one of the most likely to step up when called upon. He wasn’t supposed to be in the rotation to begin the season, but he’s made five starts since Cade Horton went down with an elbow injury, and the Cubs have won four of those games. Wednesday night, he tossed 5 1/3 innings against the Reds and gave up just one earned run.
That kind of performance is easy to overlook in the excitement of the late-inning heroics of guys like Crow-Armstrong and Busch. But without Rea, none of that stuff happens, or if it does, it doesn’t matter.
Rea isn’t alone, either. Trent Thornton, a veteran pitcher the Cubs signed on a minor league contract back in January, gave the Cubs a scoreless top of the tenth inning that helped make it possible in the bottom half of the inning for the Cubs to load the bases and for Busch to force the winning run home. But he’s not the guy in the Instagram reels of the game, and neither is Rea.
In some ways, guys like that are the real magic.
The ones who do the yeoman’s work, and do it without the fanfare. This isn’t a knock on the players who get the attention and the praise, and very often they will be the first in a postgame media scrum to call attention to their unsung teammates, but very often the difference between a team that keeps winning despite injuries and/or slow individual starts comes down to players like Rea.
The players who adjust their roles based on what the team needs, and who find a way to do it well. When the Cubs needed another arm in the rotation, Rea stepped in. When they either get Boyd back from injury (and maybe Steele further down the road) or go get another starter on the trade market, Rea will quietly go back to the bullpen. In either role, he’ll get outs and help the Cubs win games. All without getting a mention in most game recaps or social media highlight reels.
Things I’ve done lately:
Go grab the May/June issue of Baseball Digest, and you’ll find my cover story on Pete Crow-Armstrong.
My story on their series sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks from Sunday.
On Shota Imanaga’s return to form. His home run rate is dropping, which is a very good sign.
What I’m Digging Right Now:
Also lost in the excitement of the Cubs’ walk-off win, Reds pitcher Tejay Antone returned to a major league mound after his third Tommy John surgery. That takes incredible resilience.
I appreciate John Mark Comer’s perspective when it comes to churches and screens. I’d like it if more pastors took it as seriously.
Even though I think Julius Caesar is ranked too low, I enjoyed The Guardian’s ranking of Shakespeare’s plays.