ST. LOUIS — The Cubs were closing out a 101-loss season fours years ago when general manager Jed Hoyer was asked about his plans for October.
ST. LOUIS — The Cubs were closing out a 101-loss season fours years ago when general manager Jed Hoyer was asked about his plans for October.
“October, when you’re not in the playoffs, it’s a really good planning time,” Hoyer said. “You have a lot of time to think about the season. It’s always more fun to have almost no planning time, playing in the World Series, but you might as well use the month to your advantage.”
After Jon Lester and the Cubs shut down the Cardinals 7-0 Wednesday in the final game of a three-city trip, they return to Wrigley Field on Thursday with their magic number for clinching their first National League Central title in eight years at one.
Hoyer, President Theo Epstein and manager Joe Maddon then will have the rest of September to plan for their own version of Octoberfest.
The players are ready. The fans are ready. And the party room has been prepared for chaos.
“You guys have seen our team,” Lester said. “We definitely don’t like to party too much, so I’m sure it’ll be fairly low key.”
Of course.
It’s hard to imagine the journey from September 2012 to here. Only Anthony Rizzo and Travis Wood remain from that god-awful season, perhaps the most important one in the rebuild.
By being so pitiful, the Cubs assured themselves of the No. 2 pick of the 2013 draft, which they used on Kris Bryant, the probable National League MVP on a team that’s on pace to for 104 victories.
Back in ‘12, Epstein and Hoyer liked to say “progress isn’t linear,” downplaying expectations their plan would work in an orderly fashion. The Cubs finished 36 games behind the first-place Reds in ‘12, and have a 17-game lead over the second-place Cardinals in ‘16.
“You guys probably rolled your eyes when we said it wasn’t linear a million times,” Hoyer said. “You talk about ups and downs, but some of these guys have made quantum leaps from a year ago.
“Kris most notably, by cutting his strikeout rate as much as he did. Obviously, he’s having an incredible season. But Addison (Russell) obviously has made tremendous leaps, and Kyle (Hendricks), Javy (Baez) … I’d like to think some of that is contagious.
“These guys see the progress other guys are making and it kind of pushes them along. It’s also the nature of really good young players that sometimes they can make jumps that people didn’t expect.”
Rizzo was the pioneer of the rebuild, brought in to provide the left-handed power they sorely lacked. His two home runs and three RBIs on Wednesday gave him a second straight season exceeding 30 homers and 100 RBIs as he became only the second Cubs left-handed hitter with multiple 30-100 seasons. Billy Williams did it three times.
Bryant’s run-scoring triple gave him 95 RBIs, and Russell is close behind with 91.
“It’s pretty cool to be on a team when you have three young guys like that putting up the numbers they’re putting up,” catcher David Ross said. “It’s a special group, and I’m happy for those guys. You don’t see those (personal numbers) around too much anymore.”
Bryant isn’t surprised the Cubs have been so dominant. He envisioned it being like this when the team convened in Arizona last February.
“When you look at last year and how we won 97 games, and then you go into this year’s spring training like, ‘Well, I think we’re a better team,’ ” Bryant said. “You put two and two together and you kind of end up with where we’re at right now.
“I don’t know if anybody expected a lead like this, because we knew the Cardinals and the Pirates were going to be good teams. But for us we just focused on what we had to do. The thing about spring training was we expected we would be a very good team, and I think we’re showing what we can do.”
So all eyes turn to Wrigleyville on Thursday night, where the Cubs hope to seal the deal with a victory over the Brewers and start preparing for October. The buzz surrounding the yard figures to serve as a dress rehearsal for the postseason to come.
“It’s a lot of fun to be a Cub right now and go to that field and feel the energy from the stands,” Ross said. “It’s a treat.”
Gentlemen, start your fog machines.