Joe Maddon’s mind tricks and motivational gimmicks won’t save the Cubs now. Skip the “Rocky” theme song, save the zoo animals for later and ignore the manager’s red herrings. This team already created an identity, showing the resiliency needed to get back into this National League Championship Series.
It won’t be easy, not with Jacob deGrom waiting to slice up this lineup on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field and give the New York Mets a commanding 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven matchup.
But it’s not like these Cubs are soft or worrying about what happened against the Mets in 1969 or trying to pull off the impossible upset as a No.