As strange as it sounds to say the pressure was on the Cubs as they headed to Detroit for a three-game series fresh off of a big win against the White Sox, that’s absolutely the case. They had seen their division lead dwindle over the previous week, the top of the order still wasn’t hitting, and they were facing former No. 1 overall draft pick Casey Mize.
Then there’s the fact that they’d acknowledged that they were pressing as a team, so this wasn’t a fan-driven narrative. Javy Báez has been right in the middle of that admission, hacking away at everything and wearing his resultant frustration like a mask of pain that belied nothing.