Chicago Cubs

Game 5 Loss Stings, But Optimism Should Reign in Cubs Nation

After a storybook 2016 season, the Chicago Cubs were unable to write a happy sequel as their championship hopes were quashed on Thursday night by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As the Dodgers sprayed champagne around the cramped visitor’s clubhouse inside of the Friendly Confines, Cubs fans were surely left asking themselves the same questions that every team is forced to grapple with after their season comes to an end.

What comes next? What moves need to be made? What went wrong?

All of those questions are perfectly valid, and all of those questions will be answered in due time by a Cubs regime that has now piloted the team to three straight playoff appearances, but before the champagne dries on the Dodgers’ new league champion t-shirts and before the final peanut shell is swept off of the concrete steps of Wrigley Field, Cubs fans need to remember a few things.

First and foremost, this team’s championship window isn’t shut. It isn’t closing. It hasn’t even been touched. While some will argue that the team’s depleted farm system is indicative of a quick fall from grace, the reality of things is that the Cubs still have the core pieces in place to not only compete for a title next year, but for the next several years as well.

Only a small handful of teams can make that kind of claim, with the Dodgers, Astros, and perhaps the Yankees all among that group that can say they’ll be contenders next season even if they fail to make a single move in the offseason.

That kind of certainty is something that teams strive for, and that teams crave, and the Cubs have it. It’s a mind-boggling and gratifying feeling to see the organization’s plan for consistent contention play out, and making three straight league championship series appearances is indicative of that level of success.

Secondly, the Cubs do have holes to fill, but fans shouldn’t be deluded into thinking that large-scale changes are needed. Losing a postseason series inevitably will bring calls for change, but the fact remains that in the small-sample size world of postseason baseball, potential problems loom much larger than they actually are, and potential strengths may not be quite as formidable as they appear.

Even still, the Cubs’ issues can be addressed by this front office, and the team has given fans ample reason to trust them in this regard. Whether it’s been successful free agent pick-ups like Ben Zobrist and Jon Lester, or whether it’s been trades that have landed key future pieces like Jose Quintana, the Cubs have shown an ability to cultivate and acquire talent in all sorts of ways, and they’ll make sure that they can acquire whatever pieces they need over the offseason.

Finally, this team has given fans what they have craved for so many years: relevance. The Cubs were always relevant to their fans in the city, but on the national stage they were a laughingstock for decades, the butt of jokes they couldn’t laugh at and the object of derision of every standup comedian on Earth. It was a bad place to be, but the Cubs have fully shed that status and are now among the model teams in the entire league.

Yes, losing in the championship series stings. Yes, a repeat World Series championship would have been a wonderful thing. Even with those two things being completely true, there are plenty of reasons for optimism in Cubs Nation, and as the offseason begins, it would behoove fans to sit back and take in the remarkable things that this team has accomplished, even in defeat. 

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