Cubs' Collapse Follows Their History

To quote the late, great Yogi Berra -- "It's deja vu all over again".

As I write this today (9/26/18) the Chicago Cubs have seen their NL Central lead drop to a scant half-game. They are 12-11 in the month of September with five games today (two with Pittsburgh, then three with St. Louis). The surging Milwaukee Brewers are 15-7 in that same stretch, and with four games to play, are threatening to take the NL Central crown.

This brings to mind the infamous (in Chicago, anyway) 1969 collapse. That season, the Cubs had a nine game lead over the "Miracle" Mets of New York on Aug. 16. By Sept. 5, that lead was five games.

By Sept. 8-9 (with a two-game series with the Mets) that Chicago lead was two and one-half games.

As September faded, so did Chicago, going 8-17 for the month. The Cubs end up nine (count 'em, nine!) games out of first. And this was a team with four future Hall of -- Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo & Fergie Jenkins (my personal favorite back then). Their manager was Leo Durocher.

While Chicago falls, Milwaukee rises. The Brewers play at St. Louis today, looking for a sweep, and finish at home against the Detroit Tigers.

It's time to lobby for Milwaukee's Craig Counsell to be the NL Manager Of The Year. He has, after tall, skippered the club to 91 wins, tied with Chicago for tops in the NL (the Brewers have 67 losses, the Cubs 66). And how brilliant was Monday's win in St. Louis, in which he skipped Chase Anderson's scheduled start (who has given up over 30 home runs this season, tops in the majors) and instead went with a rotation of relievers.

Counsell is in his fourth season (third full) as manager. His teams have gone 61-76, 73-89, 86-76 and currently 91-67.

Back at the end of March, prior to the start of the season, I wrote here that the Brewers would post an 89-73 record. Happy to see the club exceeding my expectations!