The Chicago Cubs have tried not to look too far ahead.
The approach has served them well in their journey to get back above .500 and into the thick of the playoff race. The Cubs (58-55 through Monday) own the easiest remaining schedule in the National League, according to FanGraphs, setting up opportunities to seize control of the division race. Their slate features nine more games against the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers, with the regular season ending in Milwaukee.
about the Cubs experiencing letdowns when facing struggling teams out of playoff contention.
“It has to be business as usual,” Ross said Monday before the Cubs’ 11-2 loss to the New York Mets. “If I had a group that you feel like you had to have those conversations with, I would try to find ways to try to motivate, but these guys do a really nice job.
“It’s nice to continue to climb up the standings as we’re playing well — that’s not always the case when you’re chasing a bunch of different teams. Things have been going well lately.”
Before the loss, Ross didn’t want to overstate the importance of left-hander Drew Smyly getting locked back in against the Mets “because it’s a team as a whole.” Smyly has experienced two extremes this season: a 3.27 ERA, .233 batting average against and .268 BABIP in his first 13 starts and a 7.83 ERA, .311 BAA and .341 BABIP over his last 10 outings, which includes twice being preceded by an opener.
“We were getting really good pitching from him early on and we weren’t from (Jameson Taillon),” Ross said pregame. “If everybody’s going bad at the same time, that’s a bad sign. If (Smyly) comes in tonight and gives up five and we score six and he goes deep and helps us out with a little bit of a bullpen shortage, that’s a good outing, so I don’t think we have to measure everything to perfection every time.
“We’ve got a lot of games left. He’s had some moments of success that were really clean and some that are still a little bit clunky, and hopefully tonight is just another step in the right direction for him and it’s not going to make or break his season.”
But with every game taking on greater importance the next seven weeks, the Cubs need Smyly to start getting better results. Inconsistency emerged again for Smyly at Citi Field, as his start featured the recent familiar combination of good stuff in moments, unlucky hits and killer mistakes.
He couldn’t pitch beyond the fifth, getting lifted with the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth. Smyly ultimately was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in five-plus innings. Mets slugger Pete Alonso produced most of the damage with two home runs and five RBIs.
“Would I like to pitch better? Yeah, but I go out there expecting to pitch well every day,” Smyly said. “It just hasn’t happened recently. There’s a lot of things that are trending in a good direction, just the results haven’t been there. Obviously the home run right now is an issue.
“At the end of the day, I have to play better.”
Smyly allowed three consecutive singles to begin the sixth and walked in a run on a five-pitch sequence that saw the lefty fall behind 3-0 to the Mets’ Jonathan Arauz. Caleb Kilian survived the jam in relief of Smyly by inducing two groundouts, including a double-play ball, to finish the sixth.
A two-hour, nine-minute rain delay hurt an already taxed Cubs bullpen. Kilian, who threw only five pitches in the sixth, was positioned to potentially finish off the final three innings, but he wasn’t able to return after the long layoff.
“We’re going to still rely on him and pitching depth — we need all those things,” Ross said of Smyly before the game. “I mean, look, Kyle (Hendricks) had a rough outing the other day, and we won the game. (Justin) Steele was pretty good yesterday but was not his most dominant self.
“The goal is to keep you in the ballgame, give us a chance to win, and our pitchers have been doing a pretty good job of that.”
The Cubs generally have done a lot of the little things well over their last 51 games through Monday, posting a 32-19 record. Finding advantages at the margins will take on greater importance in a close race.
It leaves the Cubs in a tough spot with Smyly, who showed how valuable he can be in the rotation when he consistently delivered six-plus innings through the first 2 1/2 months.
Smyly’s next turn lines him up for Sunday’s game in Toronto. The Blue Jays have crushed left-handers this year while ranking second in walk rate and producing the third-lowest strikeout rate against lefties. Although Smyly owns reverse splits in 2023, featuring a .379 OBP and .974 OPS versus lefties, the Blue Jays are a tough matchup.
The Cubs are nearing a point where giving someone like right-hander Hayden Wesneski a look in Smyly’s spot in the rotation is less of a question and more a matter of when they switch roles.
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