I love anything that has to do with the 2015 Cubs. Easily my favorite Cubs team of all time and that includes the 2016 World Series club.
I’m not that crazy.
The reason 2015 stands atop my list is it was the first real taste of success and validation for being a Cubs fan. The 07 and 08 teams got swept from the playoffs and joined the 03 club on a long list of embarrassing finishes. And the grouping around the 2005 White Sox World Series only made things significantly worse.
Then you have the Tribune sale, Ricketts ownership, Theo’s leadership and a lot of 60 win seasons along the way.
It was a terrible time, and then they started tearing apart the ballpark. So you got a dogshit team literally and figuratively under construction getting dog walked by the Cardinals every year. You’re far removed from having a good season and every one of those ended with debilitating heartbreak. There’s no prospects. No budget. David DeJesus is leading off and all I want to do is not be embarrassed with the professional baseball team I support.
This went on for YEARS.
Then we got to 2015 with Jon Lester and Joe Maddon and Jake finally healthy for a full season and Kris Bryant’s debut and Anthony Rizzo becoming a leader. Everything coming into focus and even then it needed months to come together. Not until a late July Cole Hamels no-hitter in Wrigley did they click and start fucking people up. And then it was quickly the best two month regular season stretch of my life, ultimately ending with an anti-climatic 2015 NLCS.
But the run was special and I sincerely think it was the catalyst to 2016. To me those two seasons kinda merge together like Lord of the Rings Fellowship into Two Towers. It’s more one big thing.
And in that spirit, Chris Coghlan is the perfect representation of that team-first attitude. He was a dirty dog kinda player and I don’t think we go on that magical run without him in the leadoff spot sparking everything for the younger guys below him.
You can disagree and that’s okay because I’ve got plenty of conviction in this take. Chris Coghlan is one of the most important Cubs of the Theo era and certainly the most underrated and forgotten.
So hopefully you can find some motivation from that nice emotional story to start the day.
At present moment we’re 4-4 with a lot of momentum and a chance to be 5-2 domestically this afternoon. That’s awesome and I’d like to seize the opportunity.
Some other programming notes:
- Monday Morning Cubs Show with Mahoney is back for season 2. I’ll link the show below. I think we’re going to do a full mailbag episode this weekend so keep your eyes peeled for that and please contribute to the conversationas you see fit
- Jameson Taillon today and I’m just real lukewarm on the guy. I can’t help it. He’s got too much gum in his smile.
- Bats are so hot that I don’t want the boys to come home. Leave em on the West Coast and keep murdering people
- I also don’t know how much the Sacramento ballpark inherently contributes to slugging percentage. It would fuckin suck to find out this is Coors Field 2.0 and all this offense is just an illusion to our future misery
- Why do I do this to myself?
- Great game last night and a ton of momentum today. I hope you guys can feel it because it’s in the air. Go ahead and reach out and grab some for yourself
Good Rebel