As longtime Chicago Cub fans wait for the inevitable shoe to drop on a dream season, Illinois State University graduate and former GLT announcer Zach Bernard is preaching optimism. Bernard is a reporter and local host for NPR's All Things Considered at WBOI in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and writes and edits for the online baseball site robaseball.com.He said the Cubs had the better and more complete team coming into the National League Championship Series.
“It’s just a matter of beating their (Dodgers) best guys, which for game two, the Cubs couldn’t do” said Bernard. “But the good news for the Cubs is that Clayton Kershaw can’t play every day.”
Though the Cubs dispensed with San Francisco in a thrilling four games in the NLDS and are even at a game apiece with the Dodgers in the NLCS, some of the Cubs better hitters have struggled in this year’s playoffs. Bernard advises Cubs fans to be patient.
“There’s no logical explanation why Anthony Rizzo is 1 for 25 in this post-season” said Bernard. “He just hasn’t been seeing the ball very well and he’s been getting beat. Addison Russell is a different story. He’s getting beat all the time. I think manager Joe Maddon is going to have to move him in the lineup, because batting fifth, he’s become a rally killer.”
Bernard considers the lack of hitting in the middle of the Cubs lineup more of slump than a weakness.
“What this Cubs team has proven over the past couple years is that they just need one game to turn things around. It’s just a matter of when that game comes. Because once these guys break out of their slumps, this is a very, very dangerous team that could go all the way” said Bernard.
For fretting Cub fans worried about a Cubs collapse as has happened in past playoff appearances, Bernard offers up the combination of the Cubs relief pitching and the lack of hitting by the Dodgers.
“You can worry about Cubs hitting all you want; you can worry about how Jake Arietta is going to pitch in game 3. But what Dodger fans should be worried about and Cubs fans should be excited about is that the Dodgers haven’t hit well either. So if the Cubs bats can right the ship and start to hit, watch out for what that bullpen and that Cubs pitching staff can do silencing the Dodger bats. Because that could be the difference in the series” said Bernard.
