Cubs campaign continues to be a ‘wonderful surprise’
\n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”}, ” __typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”And one such big moment they had in this series, and maybe all season, came because of Morel’s swing in the bottom of the ninth, on a 100 mph/ time fastball thrown by Gregory Santos. The video of Morel’s tour of the bases was a must see. First, a hand in the air. The helmet is then thrown near second base. The jersey then comes out in third place. When he later came out of the dugout, he was shirtless.\n\nWhen he finished, Morel was asked, through an interpreter, what he was thinking as he rounded the bases.\n\n “The Cubs are winning,” he said.\n\nThis is Boog Sciambi’s third year doing play-by-play for Cubs telecasts after a long career at ESPN. He talked Thursday about the amazing baseball show he’s had a ringside seat to this season that just keeps getting better.\n\n”Wrigley is still _that_ place,” Boog said, “with all its hope . And now even approaching the possibility that this team could do something great has brought the Wrigley buzz back to full force. It’s a combination of how the team played and the passion of the fans, and it was all beautiful to see. And listen.”\n\nBoog paused and said, “I guess the only way to really put it this way is this: It’s the Cubs.”\n\nThey’re back. That Wrigley buzz never gets old. And it makes even 87-year-old Cubs fans feel young.”,”type”:”text”}],”contentType”:”news”,”subHeadline”:null,”summary”:”My friend’s name is Robby Macdonald ; he is 87 years old and has loved the Chicago Cubs since he was 9, and his mother, a huge Cubs fan, took him to two games in the 1945 World Series. This was the last Fall Classic the Cubs played until”,”tagline({\”formatString\”:\”none\”})”:null,”tags”:[{“__typename”:”InternalTag”,”slug”:”storytype-article”,”title”:”Article”,”type”:”article”},{“__typename”:”TeamTag”,”slug”:”teamid-112″,”title”:”Chicago Cubs”,”team”:{“__ref”:”Team:112″},”type”:”team”},{“__typename”:”ContributorTag”,”slug”:”mike-lupica”,”title”:”Mike Lupica”,”type”:”contributor”},{“__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”apple-news”,”title”:”Apple News”,”type”:”taxonomy”}],”type”:”story”,”thumbnail”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/{formatInstructions}/mlb/cju5mc5whh4dcb1ttcbr”,”title”:”Cubs’ rotation 2023 empowering fanbase”}},”Person:666624″:{“__typename”:”Person”,”id”:666624},”Team:112″:{“__typename”:”Team”,”id”:112 } }} window.adobeAnalytics = window {“reportingSuiteId”:”mlbglobal08,mlbcom08″,”linkInternalFilters”:”mlb”} window.globalState = {“tracking_title”:”Major League Baseball”,”lang”:”en”} . appId = ” /*–>*/
August 17, 2023
My friend’s name is Robby Macdonald. he is 87 years old and has loved the Chicago Cubs since he was 9, and his mother, a huge Cubs fan, took him to two games in the 1945 World Series. That was the last Fall Classic the Cubs played until they finally made it in 2016 and then won it all for the first time in 108 years. Maybe you heard.
For the last two years, Robby felt like he had lost the Cubs again, something that had happened to him many times since 1945. But now, they came. So many good things have happened in baseball this season. The Cubs being good enough to make a run — at the National League crown, or at least an NL Wild Card spot — is one of them.
“This season,” said Robby, who loved the Cubs more than anyone I know, “continues to be the most wonderful surprise.”
Afterwards, Robbie, who still reads the scores in the paper every morning, said: “I was worried they had traded away a really great team when they got rid of those guys two years ago [Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez]. But now I feel like I have my team back.”
After the win over the White Sox, the Cubs found themselves in the third Wild Card spot, in a virtual tie with the Reds for second in the Central, and just 2 1/2 games behind the first place Brewers. The Cubs were 26-36 after being swept by the Angels in June and seemingly going nowhere. He is 36-22 since then. They were still six games under .500 in the first week of July, and one game under .500 just a few weeks ago. But they keep coming.
This is a young, exciting Cubs team. It’s Patrick Wisdom at third base with 20 home runs, Morel with 19 and Cody Bellinger, back in baseball the way he played as a kid with the Dodgers, at 18, with 59 RBI and a .327 batting average to boot. There was so much talk before the Aug. 1 trade deadline that the Cubs might move Bellinger. Except for a funny thing that happened on the North Side:
The Cubs kept winning.
So Bellinger is playing for the postseason, as he always has been with the Dodgers. Dansby Swanson, the Braves shortstop who won the World Series two years ago, has 18 home runs himself. Ian Happ, the left fielder, has hit 14 home runs and Nico Hoerner, the second baseman, has a .280 batting average. This is not just a good team and a hot team. They are a team that has been so much fun to watch.
Marcus Stroman was 10-8 before fracturing the cartilage in his ribs. But Justin Steele, a 28-year-old lefty, has a 13-3 record. The closer, Adbert Alzolay, has 16 saves. Michael Fulmer, the setup man, has a 1.65 ERA over his last 30 appearances.
The Cubs don’t have the record that the Orioles and Rangers, the other surprise teams of the season, have. But the Cubs are just as big a story as they are, and maybe even bigger, just because they’re the Cubs. They are one of those storied teams, playing in a storied place in baseball. And now it’s way behind.
And one such big moment they’ve had in this streak, and maybe all season, came because of Morel’s swing in the bottom of the ninth, on a 100 mph fastball thrown by Gregory Santos. The video of Morel’s tour of the bases was a must see. First, a hand in the air. The helmet is then thrown near second base. The jersey then comes out in third place. When he later came out of the dugout, he was shirtless at all.
When it was over, Morel was asked, through an interpreter, what he was thinking as he walked around the bases.
This is Boog Sciambi’s third year doing play-by-play for Cubs telecasts, following a long career at ESPN. He talked Thursday about the amazing baseball show he’s had a ringside seat to this season, which just keeps getting better.
“Wrigley is still that place,” said Bug, “with all his hope. And now, even approaching the possibility that this team could do something great has brought the Wrigley buzz back to full force. It’s a combination of the way the team played and the passion of the fans, and it was all beautiful to see. And listen.”
Boog paused and said, “I guess the only way to really put it this way is this: It’s the Cubs.”
They came back. That Wrigley buzz never gets old. And it makes even 87-year-old Cubs fans feel young.
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