To enter playoff contention, the young players on the Cubs’ roster need to remain calm, lean on veterans
Two games below .500.
A 5 ½-game deficit in the National League Central with 74 games left.
How gloomier can it get for the Cubs – less than nine months after seizing their first World Series title since 1908?
Actually, the situation isn’t as bad for the Cubs as it was for Jon Jay in 2011 in his second season with the Cardinals, who were in survival mode with a 10
Jay, one of the few sparkplugs in the Cubs’ otherwise stagnant season, already has shared his experience and wisdom with his younger teammates.
“When you’re struggling in this game, you look back and say, ‘I’ve had success in this game,’ and that my personal story to the guys,” said Jay, who batted .297 in 159 games in helping lead the Cardinals to the World Series title.
“In 2011, we were completely out of it, and then we (came back) in a month. You look at the talent on this team – similar stuff – with Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, and the list goes on and on and on. These guys are younger, but they have the same accolades. It’s just a reminder it’s been done before.”
Nevertheless, it’s a unique situation for the likes of Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber, whom all played an array of roles in leading the Cubs to consecutive playoff berths but currently are part of a team that has failed to meet expectations.
They won’t need to go far for any advice, based on Jay’s experiences in 2011.
“I was extremely blessed to learn from just watching so many guys,” Jay said. “I watched how they went about their stuff the right way. I used to sit there and watch. That was before the cell phones had the internet, and iPads. I would get to the park early, bounce around, do my work and watch how they went about their business.
“I spent a lot of time with (coach) Jose Quendo during the game, and these are the things I passed along. It’s all about the process.”
Bryant reminded reporters that the Cubs overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series and mounted 17 winning streaks of at least three games last season.
But there’s more at stake now, considering the Cubs were prohibitive favorites to win the division and that winning the NL Central is looming larger as their lone playoff option since they trail the Rockies for the second NL wild-card berth by 7
They also remember the stress of playing a winner-take-all NL wild-card game at Pittsburgh in 2015 and not having the luxury of extra rest like the three other division champions.
The Cubs, nevertheless, would welcome a repeat of their last two Augusts, in which they’re 41-15, or even a surge similar to 2015, when they trailed the Giants by one-half game for the second wild-card berth but swept them in a four-game series to start a 39-17 run to earn a wild-card berth.
“Getting in (the playoffs) would be great in any way, but you want to win the division,” Bryant said. “We look at that first year (2015), and we were (seven) games above .500 at the break. Right now we’re below that, but we ended up winning 97 (in 2015).
“Hopefully we can be that second-half team we were back then.”
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