It sounds weird to say that the team with the best record in baseball hasn’t been playing to its potential, but no one would have accused the Cubs of looking terribly sharp in July. They opened the month on a 2-8 stretch that included a five-game losing streak and were in danger of capping the month by dropping two of three to the Mariners. By many accounts they had already done just that.
Let’s be honest, the Cubs were pretty much punting Sunday’s game. Facing Felix Hernandez in the rubber game of their series, the home team was sending reclamation project Brian Matusz to the bump.