If vibes, mood and confidence worked like pitching, slugging and speed, the Chicago Cubs would be printing playoff tickets about now.
Instead, they’ll settle for talking about it after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat them again Sunday 7-3 at Wrigley Field, handing them their first series loss since the opening three-gamer against the Milwaukee Brewers.
“The confidence is nowhere lacking in this group of guys,” Cubs starter Marcus Stroman said. “On any given day we feel like we can beat anybody. There’s no one that we’re scared of.
“I think this is reassurance to show us that we’re right where we need to be.”
Maybe.
“It felt like playoff baseball a little bit,” Cubs manager David Ross said of the seven games against the Dodgers in the last 11 days, “from the standpoint of they saw our bullpen multiple times, multiple pockets saw similar guys. We competed really well against them in a lot of games and split the series.”
Maybe not.
Whether Stroman is justified in his sizable level of confidence or delusional, the 12-9 Cubs won’t be confused anytime soon with Derek Jeter’s New York Yankees, Ronald Acuna Jr.’s Atlanta Braves or even Dexter Fowler’s Cubs.
And whether Ross was right in the insinuation that the series provided an early barometer for the Cubs’ fitness against top teams, a Dodgers group that got to town Thursday with a long list of questions left Chicago after exposing some of the Cubs’ imperfections.
Not the least of which was a bullpen that surrendered eight runs in 8⅔ innings the last two games, with most of that damage coming against veteran back-end guys Brad Boxberger on Saturday and Brad Fulmer on Sunday — after Fulmer had given up the decisive grand slam to rookie James Outman in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 6-2 loss.
The Dodgers hit 10 home runs against the Cubs in their three wins in the series, including four each from Outman and Max Muncy. Outman’s were the most in a series at Wrigley Field by a rookie since the Braves’ Bob Horner in 1978.
On Sunday, a touted pitching matchup between Stroman — who entered with a 0.75 ERA — and Hall of Fame-bound Clayton Kershaw fizzled between the Cubs’ two unearned runs in the first and back-to-back pitches from Stroman in the sixth that were hit for 804 feet and three runs worth of homers by Muncy and J.D. Martinez.
Stroman said he felt as good as his performance looked until those last two pitches, when he “got out of whack mechanically.”
Along the way, he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout, which earned a lengthy ovation from the crowd — and, perhaps notably, no pitch-clock violation.
“I’m just very thankful to be here and feel healthy,” he said. “I truly feel I’m getting better with age.”
Talk about good vibes and optimism from one of the clubhouse leaders in them.
“I think we’re great. I think we’re playing incredible baseball,” Stroman said. “I think we have a great camaraderie, great flow, a great vibe going on here.”
And maybe it’ll all pay off by October.
In fact, the best news — if not vibes — for the Cubs on Sunday came before the game when the team said three-time opening-day starter Kyle Hendricks recovered well from Saturday’s three innings of work in an extended spring training game and is expected to start a minor-league rehab assignment by the end of the week.
That’s especially encouraging for a team that opened the homestand Thursday by putting $68 million starter Jameson Taillon on the injured list because of a left groin injury.
And maybe the Dodgers ultimately will prove to be the measuring stick that they have been the last few years — or even last year.
But at first glance at least, this looked a lot more like a visiting team that got well against an unproven Cubs team than a home team that proved it’s ready for prime time.
“I think the Dodgers will always be there,” said Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger, who went 8-for-24 (.333) with three home runs, a homer-robbing catch and a 1.300 OPS during the seven meetings with the team that released him in November. “They’re still a really quality team.”
They’re also a team that limped into Chicago with a significantly compromised infield, a hobbled rotation, one of the worst-performing bullpens in the league and — consequently — a losing record after April 10 for the first time in five years.
“Yeah we’ve tapped into depth that you wouldn’t want to tap into, for various reasons, at this point in the year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said as the series opened, “and we’re not playing our best baseball.”
The Dodgers are so thin at shortstop after losing $625 million worth of free agents from that position the last two winters in Corey Seager and Trea Turner that they opened the series with a waiver claim named Luke Williams starting at the marquee position and by the end of the series had MVP right fielder Mookie Betts making his first career start there.
“I think there’s concern anytime you don’t play well,” said Kershaw, who evened his record at Wrigley to 3-3 with six strong innings Sunday for his 201st victory.
“Obviously the expectation here is to win, and this year’s no different. So not playing the way we want to, there’s always concern with that. But nothing to do but keep playing and try to figure it out.”
They did it well enough against the Cubs to win the season series for the third time in four years, this time 4-3.
How much did some of the close games say about the Cubs? It might be too early to say, regardless of how either team finishes.
In fact, if Ross and Stroman are right about the upside vibes and optimism worth drawing from the Dodgers series, buckle up.
Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. are up next when the free-spending San Diego Padres get to town Tuesday looking to stay on a roll that includes four wins in five games.
“I’m always excited to play against the best,” Stroman said. “That’s why we play the game, to line up against the best guys in the league and see where you stack up. I know the energy here will be amazing.”
Gordon Wittenmyer is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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