Catching fly balls. Throwing strikes. These are some of the most basic things baseball players have to do right in order to win. “Fundamentals,” they’re called by baseball people, and truth be told, the 2022 Chicago Cubs are not a fundamentally sound team.
A dropped routine fly ball and a usually-reliable closer’s inability to throw strikes were two of the biggest factors in the Cubs’ second straight loss to the Dodgers, 4-3 in 10 innings Friday evening in Los Angeles. And when a team makes those mistakes, a good team like the Dodgers is ready to pounce on them, and that’s basically the story of this game, the Cubs’ 50th loss of 2022.